ESP Biography



WHITNEY ZHANG, MIT junior studying economics




Major: 14-2

College/Employer: MIT

Year of Graduation: 2021

Picture of Whitney Zhang

Brief Biographical Sketch:

I'm a junior studying mathematical economics with an interest in quantitative methods and public policy. I also do research at the MIT Economics Department and am a news editor at The Tech, MIT's student newspaper. If you have any questions about life/economics/whatever, feel free to hmu! I look forward to teaching y'all :)



Past Classes

  (Clicking a class title will bring you to the course's section of the corresponding course catalog)

Z13213: Modeling Decision Making in Splash 2019 (Nov. 23 - 24, 2019)
This class will explore how people make decisions under risk and uncertainty through interactive games. We will primarily focus on thinking about decision making through prospect theory and expected utility frameworks.


X13100: Correlation isn't causation, so what is? in HSSP Summer 2019 (Jul. 07, 2019)
You've probably heard that correlation isn't causation. So, how do we prove that anything causes anything else? Luckily, econometrics has the tools for this. You'll learn some of the math and intuition behind econometric methods, such as regression, differences-in-differences, regression discontinuity, and instrumental variables. We'll also discuss papers that use these tools to answer questions like, "How does having children affect women's wages?" "How does increasing the minimum wage affect employment?" and "How do credit card limits affect peoples' spending?"