Population Studies Workshop

James Raymo speaks in a classroom

The Population Studies Workshop aims to foster scholarly exchange on key issues in demography, population health, social statistics, survey methodology, and population economics — broadly defined. The series features prominent external speakers from leading institutions who conduct cutting-edge research across disciplines, including sociology, economics, public health, political science, statistics, and related fields. 

The series engages a wide array of Yale scholars, including faculty, students, and researchers from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Yale School of Public Health, Yale School of Medicine, Yale Law School, Yale School of Nursing, Yale School of the Environment, and Yale School of Management.

Unless otherwise noted, the workshop meets on selected Mondays and Fridays from noon to 1:15 PM in Room A002 at 77 Prospect Street. Lunch will be provided.

NON-YALE SCHOLARS: Please contact Nicole Hunter to join the subscriber list.

2026-27 Speaker Schedule

Date Speaker Location

Friday

Sept. 18

Hongbin Li

Faculty Co-Director of the Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions; Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research; Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University

“The Highest Exam: How the Gaokao Shapes China”

Co-sponsored by the Council on East Asian Studies

ISPS

77 Prospect Street

Room A002

Friday

Oct. 30

Jason Fletcher

Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Public Affairs & Population Health Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Co-sponsored by the Yale Center for Empirical Research on Stratification and Inequality

Luce Hall

Room 203

Friday

Nov. 6

Yu Xie

Bert G. Kerstetter ‘66 University Professor in the Department of Sociology and the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies; Director, Paul and Marcia Wythes Center on Contemporary China, Princeton University

Co-sponsored by the Council on East Asian Studies

ISPS

77 Prospect Street

Room A002

Friday

Jan. 29

Yao Lu

Professor of Sociology and Faculty Affiliate at the Columbia Population Research Center, the Data Science Institute, the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy, and the Weatherhead East Asian Institute 

ISPS

77 Prospect Street

Room A002

Friday

Feb. 8

Jonathan Skinner

Research Professor in Economics, Dartmouth College; Senior Fellow at the Yale School of Public Health

ISPS

77 Prospect Street

Room A002

Monday

Feb. 22

Marcella Alsan

Thomas J. Davis, Jr. Faculty Scholar & Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research; Anne and Ned Lamont Professor of International Studies in the Department of Economics, Stanford University

ISPS

77 Prospect Street

Room A002

Monday

March 1

2:30 - 3:50 PM

Alessandra Voena

Holbrook Working Professor of Price Theory, Department of Economics; Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, Stanford University
 

Co-sponsored by the Yale Economic Growth Center

87 Trumbull Street

Room B120

Monday

April 5

Tim Vlandas

Professor of Comparative Political Economy and Social Policy, University of Oxford

ISPS

77 Prospect Street

Room A002

Monday

April 26

Olivia S. Mitchell

International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans Professor; Professor of Insurance/Risk Management and Business Economics/Policy at The Wharton School of the University of Pennysylvania

ISPS

77 Prospect Street

Room A002

Faculty Organizers: 

  • Emma Zang, Associate Professor of Sociology, Biostatistics, and Global Affairs
  • Xi Chen, Associate Professor of Public Health & Economics
  • Rourke O’Brien, Associate Professor of Sociology
  • Costas Meghir, Douglas A. Warner III Professor of Economics
  • Charles McClean, Assistant Professor of Political Science

Seminar Coordinator: Nicole Hunter

Board of Advisors: 

  • Ron Borzekowski (DISSC)
  • Leah Boustan (Economics)
  • Drew Cameron (Health Policy)
  • Andrew Cohen (Medicine)
  • Cody Cook (Economics)
  • Fabian Drixler (Japanese History)
  • Eduardo Fernandez-Duque (Anthropology)
  • Natalia Festa (Medicine)
  • Ling Han (Medicine)
  • Yuan Hsiao (Sociology)
  • Melody Huang (Statistics, Political Science)
  • Grace Kao (Sociology)
  • Shiro Kuriwaki (Political Science)
  • Becca Levy (Epidemiology, Psychology)
  • Fan Li (Biostatistics)
  • Zeyan Liew (Epidemiology)
  • Ariana Salazar Miranda (Environment)
  • Mushfiq Mobarak (SOM)
  • Joan Monin (Epidemiology)
  • Bhramar Mukherjee (Biostatics)
  • Cormac O’Dea (Economics)
  • Guangyu Tong (Medicine)
  • Rebecca Toseland (Economics)
  • Kosuke Uetake (SOM)
  • Winnie van Dijk (Economics)
  • Jacob Wallace (Health Policy)
  • Xuehong Zhang (Nursing)