Lucy Xiaolu Wang
Lucy Xiaolu Wang
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xiaoluwang at umass.edu

Stockbridge Hall 208B, Amherst, MA 01003

Lucy Xiaolu Wang, Ph.D.

I am a tenure-track Assistant Professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a Faculty Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition (Germany), and a Faculty Associate at the Canadian Centre for Health Economics. My research focuses on the economics of innovation & digitization in health care markets — national and global — particularly in the biopharmaceutical and digital health industries. I received my Ph.D. in Economics from Cornell University, an M.A. in Economics from Duke University, and a B.A. in Economics (specialty: insurance) from the Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing.

I am a co-founder and inaugural convener for the Digital Health Technology special interest group at the International Health Economics Association, and the inaugural program chair for the Innovation and Digitization program area at the American Society of Health Economists. My projects have been funded by Cornell, CUFE, Duke, the Institute for Humane Studies, the Max Planck Institute, the National Ministry of Education of China, RWJF, and UMass, among others.

Research

I use rich institutional detail and novel data on health care markets to answer theory-motivated, policy-relevant empirical questions. My agenda aims to understand innovation in markets with high R&D investment, heavy regulation, large financial burden, and important implications for social welfare and firms' decisions.

Working Papers

Health IT Diffusion and Physician Density
with Jason Huh (RPI), Jianjing Lin (UMass Amherst)
Download: latest draft · slides (tba). Featured in AEA annual meeting poster session highlight videos, 2026.
We find that health IT diffusion increases physician density, esp. in medical and surgical specialties, early-career doctors, and shortage areas, by enhancing hospital finances and care capacity.
Patent Management and Licensing in China: New Evidence from Field Surveys
with Xia Liu (Tongji), Xinmiao Yu (Tongji), Dietmar Harhoff (MPI)
Download: latest draft.
We design and conduct the first field-based survey of patent management and licensing in China (the Shanghai Patent Survey), documenting new patterns in patent managers, incentive structures, and licensing practices.

Peer-reviewed Journal Articles

The Organization of Innovation: Incomplete Contracts and the Outsourcing Decision
2026, American Economic Journal: Microeconomics — with Thomas Jungbauer (Cornell), Sean Nicholson (Cornell), June Pan (Visa), Michael Waldman (Cornell)
Download: published version · NBER WP · slides.
How do firms choose whether to conduct R&D in-house or outsource for similar projects? Our theoretical model and empirical tests in the pharmaceutical sector reveal factors that matter.
Legalization and Innovation in the Cannabis Market
2026, International Journal of Industrial Organization — with Nathan Chan (UMass Amherst)
Download: published version · MPI discussion paper. Media: news@UMass · The Conversation · Forbes.
Using econometrics and natural language processing (NLP) tools, we find that state (recreational) cannabis legalization mainly increases cannabis-related patenting rather than clinical trials, and mainly in downstream product and method patents relative to upstream medical innovation.
Marketing Authorization and Strategic Patenting: Evidence from Pharmaceuticals
2025, Journal of Public Economics — with Dennis Byrski (MPI alum)
2024 ASHEcon Program Chair Award winner (program area: prescription drugs)
Download: published version · MPI discussion paper · slides. Featured in a Jotwell review by Stanford Law Prof. Lisa Ouellette (4/2026). Top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric; top 3% compared to outputs of the same age (link).
How do firms change strategic and innovative patenting behaviors after marketing authorization? Lessons from European drug-patent-exclusivity linked data.
Procurement Institutions and Essential Drug Supply in Low and Middle-Income Countries
2025, Journal of Health Economics — with Nahim Bin Zahur (Queen's University, Canada)
2023 IHEA Adam Wagstaff Award Winner (lead author) for "outstanding research on the economics of healthcare financing and delivery in low- and middle-income countries" (newsletter announcement)
Download: published version · MPI discussion paper · slides. Videos: Stanford APARC–Peking Univ joint webinar; World Bank+USAID+GFF joint Annual Health Financing Forum talk. Media: news@UMass · The Conversation. Top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric; top 2% compared to outputs of the same age (link).
This paper examines the effectiveness and trade-offs of pooled procurement institutions (intl. & domestic) in supplying essential drugs to LMIC.
A Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Medicines Patent Pool
2023, Economics Bulletin
Download: published version · MPI discussion paper. Structural part split from an earlier SSRN draft.
Estimation of MPP-induced consumer & producer welfare gains based on a structural model. Simulated counterfactuals accounted for no MPP and further expansions.
Human Mediation Leads to Higher Compliance in Digital Mental Health: Field Evidence from India
2023, Frontiers in Behavioral Economics — with Chirantan Chatterjee (Sussex), Marina Chugunova (MPI), Mainak Ghosh (MPI), Abhay Singhal (TickTalkTo)
Download: published version · SSRN WP.
A field experiment on human vs. algorithm in a mental health app in India.
Collaborating Neuroscience Online: The Case of the Human Brain Project Forum
2022, PLOS ONE — with Ann-Christin Kreyer (MPI; LMU Munich)
Download: published version · MPI discussion paper · code/data repo. Media: news@UMass · The Conversation. Top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric; top 3% compared to outputs of the same age (link).
The HBP is a 10-year, €1B EU flagship project & one of the earliest brain initiatives. We offered the first systematic analysis of the short-term performance of the HBP Forum.
Global Drug Diffusion and Innovation with the Medicines Patent Pool
2022, Journal of Health Economics
AOM Best Paper Proceedings 2021 Best Paper Award, Wharton Innovation Doctoral Symposium 2019 Young Scholar Best Paper Award, EPIP (ETH Zürich & EPFL) 2019 Best Student Paper Nominee, Antitrust Writing Awards (Concurrences) 2020
Download: published version · MPI discussion paper · slides (60 min). Media: news@UMass · Medical Xpress. Top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric; top 1% compared to outputs of the same age (link).
The MPP spurs more generic drug supply of patented drugs and positive spillover effects to upstream innovation (input & output). The MPP is now a key part of the WHO Covid-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP); here is a summary of their contribution to drug access in Covid-19.
U.S. State Approaches to Cannabis Licensing
2022, International Journal of Drug Policy — with Nicholas J. Wilson (LMU Munich)
Download: published version · MPI discussion paper · slides · data repository. Top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric; top 3% compared to outputs of the same age (link).
How does US canna-licensing work?
The Complementarity of Drug Monitoring Programs and Health IT for Reducing Opioid-Related Mortality and Morbidity
2021, Health Economics
AOM Best Paper Proceedings 2019 Outstanding Student Paper Award (William H. Newman Award Divisional Nominee) 2019 Finalist, Best Theory-to-Practice Paper, AOM Health Care Division 2019
Download: published version · MPI discussion paper · slides. Cited in the 2026 CBO report on the opioid crisis.
HIT complements PDMP in fighting the opioid crisis.
The Secret Menu in Health Care: A Cash Market for Imaging in California
2020, INQUIRY — with Jordan Epstein (Stroll Health), Sean Nicholson (Cornell), Katherine Hempstead (RWJF), Sam Asin (Stroll Health)
Download: published version · MPI discussion paper · slides.
Shop for health care? Consider cash prices to save $. Funded by a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Grant awarded in 2016 (Principal Investigator: Jordan Epstein).

Peer-reviewed Policy Reports & Notes

Digital Interventions in the Health Sector: Country Cases and Policy Discussions
2023, IMF Notes — with Carolina Bloch (IMF)
Download: published version · SSRN working paper.
Digitization-health with a developing country focus.

Best Paper Proceedings

Medicines Patent Pool and HIV Drug Cocktail Diffusion and Innovation
2021, In Guclu Atinc (Ed.), Best Paper Proceedings of the 81st Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management (top ≤10% among accepted papers)
The Complementarity of Health Information & HIT for Reducing Opioid-Related Mortality and Morbidity
2019, Best Paper Proceedings of the 79th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management (top ≤10% among accepted papers)

Book Chapters

Manufacturing Fetishism: The Neo-Mercantilist Preoccupation with Protecting Manufacturing
2015 — with Alecia W. Cassidy and Edward Tower, in The Region and Trade: New Analytical Directions, World Scientific, pp. 137–175
Download: Duke (ERID) working paper · publisher's site.

Technical Memos

Patent Classification Systems and Technological Categorization: An Overview and Update
Download: SSRN · data.

Teaching

In my learning experience, research (knowledge creation) and teaching (knowledge diffusion) are often complements. While researching innovation, teaching offers me the opportunity to understand creativity — how innovative ideas can be generated in the first place. I believe highly motivated and creative learners are essential for future innovation.

Teaching Fellowships & Recognition

Instructor — Undergraduate & Graduate Courses

Teaching Assistant / Grader (selected)

Case & Teaching Materials

"Connecting with Reality: Using Mini-Case Study Approach to Facilitate and Assess Student Learning," 2018, Cornell University Classroom Research Working Paper Series, Vol. 6.

Service

Mentoring

Professional Services

Referee: American Economic Review; American Economic Review: Insights; American Journal of Health Economics; Applied Economics; Applied Economics Letters; Decision Support Systems; Demographic Research; Economics Bulletin; Frontiers in Digital Health; Frontiers in Public Health; Frontiers in Research Metrics & Analytics; Health Economics; Health Economics, Policy, and Law; Health Information Management Journal; Health Policy; Information System Research; International Journal of Drug Policy; International Journal of Industrial Organization; INQUIRY; Journal of Development Economics; Journal of Health Economics; Journal of Labor Economics; Management Science; Manufacturing & Service Operations Management; Production and Operations Management; Research Policy; Scientific Reports; Social Science Research

Seminars

I am a co-founder and inaugural convener (ECR) for the Digital Health Technology (DHT) special interest group (SIG) at the International Health Economics Association (established 2024.2). I also serve as the inaugural program chair for the ASHEcon Innovation and Digitization program area (established 2024.8). See "IHEA and ASHEcon Introduce 2024 Initiatives in Digital Health and Innovation" (ASHEcon newsletter Issue 2024:3). I have co-organized the AOM Patent Professional Development Workshop ("the patent PDW") for 2023 and 2024. I currently organize the UMass Amherst Health Works-in-Progress seminars. I'll update the health/innovation-related webinar/workshop resources below.

UMass Amherst Health Economics Seminars
  • Sp 2026 IO brownbag health topic: 4/17 Nathan Blascak (Philly Fed)
  • Sp 2026 health WIPS: 2/11 Debi/Deba Mohapatra (UMass/Analysis Group); 2/25 Qian Zhao (UMass stats); 3/4 Ed Norton (Michigan); 3/11 Mike Eber (UMass); 3/25 Jacob Dorn (Cornell); 4/1 Fangli Geng (Brown PH); 4/8 Michael Sorrell (retired neurologist, UMass Chan - Baystate); 4/15 Sindhoora Prakash (UMass industrial engineering); 5/6 mixer: Zihan Zhang, Jianjing Lin, Michal Horný (all UMass; ResEc, public health)
  • Sp 2026 dept seminar: 2/6 Alex Chan (HBS)
  • Fall 2025 dept seminar: 9/19 Leila Agha (Harvard); 9/26 Gautam Gowrisankaran (Columbia)
  • Fall 2025 health WIPS: 10/17 Said Arslan (UMass); 10/24 Randy Ellis (BU); 11/21 Rebekah Dix (Yale); 12/12 Seyoun Kim (UMass)
  • Sp 2025 health WIPS: 2/7 Anupam Bapu Jena (Harvard Med), 2/12 faculty mixer: Lucy X Wang, Michal Horný, Jeannine Blake, Weiqi Chu (all UMass: resecon, public health, nursing, math/stats), 2/19 Liz Evans (UMass), 2/28 (co-sponsor w CSSI) Tong Liu (MIT Sloan), 3/5 Shyam Raman (Williams College), 3/26 Emma Dean (Dartmouth TDI); 4/4 Jianjing Lin (UMass); 4/9 Steve Lehrer & Weili Ding (Queen's U); 4/16 Rong Rong (UMass); 4/23 Lucy Xiaolu Wang (UMass); 4/30 Shengmao Cao (Northwestern Kellog); 5/7 student mixer: Said Arslan, Ian Miller (UMass: resource econ, biomedical engineering/econ)
  • Fall 2024 dept seminar: 9/27 Kelly Ragan (Stockholm School of Economics), 10/25 Jacqueline Lane (HBS)
  • Fall 2024 health WIPS: 11/8 Kelly Yang (Indiana Kelley), 11/22 Gaurab Aryal (BU), 12/13 graduate student mixer: Said Arslan, Samyuktha Bardi, Bijesh Gyawali, Amir Khosheghbal, Taehyun Kim (UMass: resec, polsci, engineering)
  • Fall 2024 IO brownbag health topic (online): 10/18 Alden Cheng (NBER/UIUC Gies)
IHEA Digital Health Technology (DHT) SIG Webinars
  • DHT SIG webinar: "Costs of Technological Frictions: Evidence from EHR (Non-)Interoperability" & "Sharing is Caring: The Role of Health Info Exchange on Patient Care", 2025-11-4, Kelsey Moran (U Miami), Joe Doyle (MIT), recording.
  • DHT SIG webinar, "Algorithmic Decision-Making in Clinical Care: Evidence, Equity, and Economics Across Health Systems", 2025-5-30, recording.
  • DHT SIG ECR Zoom mixer, 7 flash talks, three main topic areas: telehealth, health-innovation, and algorithm-health, presenters: Zhang Zhang (JHU), Alex Wellsjo (UCSD), Thomas Schaper (ZEW Mannheim), Ann-Christin Kreyer (MPI), Evora H Zhu (CUHK), Emma Dean (Dartmouth TDI), April Y Wu (CUHK), 2024-9-19, flyer.
  • DHT SIG inaugural webinar, "Digital Innovation in Healthcare: The Role of Telemedicine and Artificial Intelligence," featuring David Cutler (Harvard) and Dan Zeltzer (Tel Aviv), 2024-4-23, flyer, recording.
AOM Patent Professional Development Workshop (the "Patent PDW")

Website hosting past workshop content; I co-organized and co-chaired the 2023 and 2024 editions.

  • 2024 co-organizer: Thomas Schaper (ZEW Mannheim); presenters: Matt Marx (Cornell), Paola Criscuolo (Imperial College London), Tony Tong (UC Boulder); discussants: Andy Toole (USPTO), Jeff Furman (BU); flyer
  • 2023 co-organizer: Sina Khoshsokhan (U Colorado Boulder); presenters: Dietmar Harhoff (MPI), Myriam Mariani (Bocconi), Kenneth Huang (NUS); discussant: John Walsh (Georgia Tech); flyer