Joseph Leung

Joseph Leung

Research Professional

The Big Mac Index

less than 1 minute read

Published:

In this International Economics seminar paper, I explore the Big Mac Index that was first introduced by the Economist. Furthermore, I explain how the Big Mac Index fits in with in international economics theory, such as purchasing power parity (absolute vs. relative) and non-traded goods. Then, I discuss the surrounding literature that uses the Big Mac Index in the purchasing power parity and exchange rate literature.

Last Updated: 12/29/2018. More descriptions, equations, and tables

Find the paper here

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How much does the NBA Summer League matter to players? (joint with Shivram Vishwanathan)

5 minute read

Published:

Many do not pay attention to the summer league in years past, but as more and more one-and-done NBA prospects enter the league, the coverage of the NBA summer league has gone up. We were curious to see how the NBA Summer League contributes to the development of young NBA prospects in their rookie seasons. While our observed effects may not be causal, we hope to shed some light in how useful the NBA Summer League is for the player and how closely we should follow during the offseason.*

This NY/China flat is worth HOW much?

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I had a cousin ask me about why Asian housing prices are so much higher than western housing prices (like in New York). Currently in my life, owning real estate does not seem so feasible, so naturally, I have no idea what these prices looked like other than being way above my pay grade. That being said, I investigated the time series prices of housing (more specifically growth of property prices) in New York vs those in China. Furthermore, the higher prices of property observed in China, also extends to Hong Kong.

FRBNY RA: Do all former RAs get PhDs?

14 minute read

Published:

It has been two months into my new job at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY). As a research analyst (RA), I primarily assist economists with creating paper figures and tables, running regressions, and cleaning data.1 It is common knowledge that many RAs move on to pursue a PhD since, in most cases, the RA job is meant to prepare for the things one is expected to do in a PhD program. I pose the following questions:

Markov Chain Monte Carlo and the AUDL Project: Reflections

7 minute read

Published:

For my mathematics senior capstone project, I examine the robustness of a Poisson Goal-scoring model proposed by Everson and Goldsmith-Pinkham (2008). My expository capstone paper is found here. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the goal-scoring model, simplify it, and apply it to a similar scenario. In this blog post, I go back and examine the failure of prediction in my simplified Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm. I will go look at two division in particular: the Midwest and West divisions.