Minyan Zhu
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100
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Lecturer in Economics
I am currently on leave for the academic year 2025/26.
Immediately prior to my leave, I served as Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Economics. I convened EC201 Intermediate Microeconomics, ECM621 Topics in Business Economics, and all undergraduate and postgraduate dissertation modules.
Areas of interest
I have a long-standing interest in how individuals and organisations respond to incentives and constraints, and how regulation can support informed individual decision-making without being unduly prescriptive. A central strand of my research investigates how regulatory frameworks interact with market structures, organisational behaviour, and consumer decision-making—across regulated sectors, with a growing emphasis on healthcare. This includes examining effects, trade-offs, and unintended consequences of policy choices—particularly where organisational incentives or policy constraints may distort or complicate individual decision-making.
Methodologically, my research applies and develops empirical approaches grounded in applied econometrics as well as nonparametric frontier methods using linear programming techniques.
I have published in internationally recognised peer-reviewed journals, such as Regional Studies, European Journal of Operational Research, Energy Journal, and Industrial and Corporate Change, and contributed to policy debates through consultation responses and invited presentations.
Postgraduate supervision
- Economic regulation – topics relating to the interaction between regulation and firm behaviour, individual decision-making, and market outcomes.
- Innovation – particularly the relationship between regulatory frameworks and firms’ incentives to innovate.
- Health policy – focusing on how health policy and regulation influence service provider performance and patient decision-making.
Research centres and groups
Inequality and Social Policy
Background
I first came to the UK as an international student in 2002 and completed MPhil studies in Monetary Economics and Finance at the University of Glasgow. I went on to pursue a PhD in Economics at the University of Birmingham, focusing on the empirical analysis of provider performance, regulation and market outcomes in the banking sector.
Following my doctoral studies, I held a postdoctoral research position at the Centre for Competition Policy (CCP), University of East Anglia (2010–2014), where I contributed to interdisciplinary research on regulation and competition policy. I was subsequently appointed Assistant Professor in Industrial Economics at the University of Nottingham (2014–2016), before joining the 糖心探花.
Academic qualifications
- HEA Fellow, September 2018
- PhD, Economics University of Birmingham, 2009
- MPhil, Monetary Economics and Finance, University of Glasgow, 2003
- BA, Economics, Nanjing University of Science & Technology (China), 2001