Research

Working Papers

Host Country Language and School Integration of Immigrant Students

With Michael Vlassopoulos and Jackline Wahba
R&R — Journal of Population Economics

This paper studies how host-country language proficiency shapes immigrant students’ school integration. Stronger language skills improve social inclusion and reduce exposure to bullying, highlighting the importance of language support for immigrant children’s wellbeing and participation at school.

Breathing Easy, Retiring Early? Effects of Air Pollution on Retirement Age Expectations: Evidence from China

With Dingzhi Chen
Working Paper

This paper examines how air pollution shapes retirement expectations in China. Higher pollution leads workers to expect earlier retirement, particularly among rural workers, women, and those in physically demanding jobs, suggesting that environmental risks influence labour supply decisions well before retirement occurs.

Following Cleaner Air: Air Pollution and Destination Choice Across Mobility and Migration in China

With Dingzhi Chen
Working Paper

This paper examines how air pollution influences destination choice and migration in China. Pollution discourages travel planning, actual mobility, and long-term migration, with a stronger effect on planning than on realised movement, suggesting that pollution avoidance begins before people travel.

Green Remittances: How Migration Shapes Green Behaviours in Rural China

With Dingzhi Chen and Fengtian Yang
Working Paper

This paper studies how migration shapes environmental behaviour in rural China. Current migration can weaken everyday green practices through household separation, while return migration improves recycling and waste sorting, suggesting that migrants bring home environmental norms and skills acquired in urban areas.

When Reading is Hard: Reading Proficiency and Generative AI Use among Immigrant Students

With Dingzhi Chen
Working Paper

This paper examines how language proficiency shapes generative AI use among immigrant students. Students with weaker reading skills use AI more for summarising, preliminary research, and writing, suggesting that AI can help compensate for language constraints in specific tasks rather than general learning.

When Models Disagree: Measuring Macroeconomic and Financial Uncertainty

With Fengtian Yang and Dingzhi Chen
Working Paper

This paper develops measures of macroeconomic and financial uncertainty based on disagreement across forecasting models. Model disagreement predicts subsequent forecast errors beyond uncertainty within individual models, offering a distinct view of the risks surrounding economic and financial forecasts.

AI Washing and Recruitment Strategies: Evidence from China

With Dingzhi Chen
Working Paper

This paper investigates whether firms’ AI-related claims align with their underlying capabilities and how gaps between the two shape recruitment in China. It examines hiring intensity, occupational composition, skill requirements, and offered wages to understand the labour market implications of corporate AI washing.

When the Air Gets Dirty: Recruitment Responses in China’s Listed Companies

With Dingzhi Chen
Working Paper

This paper studies how listed firms in China adjust recruitment when air pollution rises. Firms reduce advertised wages for higher-skilled positions and expand hiring for non-managerial roles, suggesting that environmental stress can reshape labour demand and the composition of recruitment.

Policy Briefs

Language Proficiency is Central to Immigrant Children’s Integration at School

With Michael Vlassopoulos and Jackline Wahba. Policy Brief, ESRC Centre for Population Change Connecting Generations, UKRI, 2026.

Read the policy brief — University of Southampton

Integration Starts with Language: Immigrant Children across OECD Countries

With Michael Vlassopoulos and Jackline Wahba. Policy Insights, Population Europe, 2026.

Read the article — Population Europe

For drafts and working paper versions, please email Yu.Qin1@nottingham.ac.uk.