Dr Anwen Zhang

  • Senior Lecturer (Economics)
  • Associate (School of Health & Wellbeing)

telephone: 0141 330 6965
email: Anwen.Zhang@glasgow.ac.uk

Room 6123, Adam Smith Business School, 2 Discovery Place, Glasgow, G11 6EY

Import to contacts

ORCID iDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-3907-8396

Biography

Anwen Zhang is an applied microeconomist and currently a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Economics at the Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow. Before joining the University of Glasgow in 2019, he held postdoctoral research positions at the LSE (2015-19) and University of Cambridge (2014-15). He received his PhD in Economics from Lancaster University in 2015.

His research focuses on policy-relevant issues in health and education, with recent work aimed at understanding key factors affecting mental health.

Research interests

Anwen is a member of the Applied Economics research cluster.

Areas of expertise:

  • Health Economics
  • Economics of Education
  • Program Evaluation
  • Applied Microeconomics

Research topics

Anwen is primarily interested in studying policy-relevant issues related to health and education. His research seeks to understand the determinants of health and education outcomes, and the effects of health and education policies on these outcomes, by applying quasi-experimental methods to large-scale observational data. His current work focuses on the following inter-related topics:

  1. Mental health: how various factors such as religion, migration, and peers affect mental health, and the role of policy in shaping mental health outcomes.
  2. Schools: school inputs and outputs in education and health production, and the roles of various social elements in these processes.
  3. Health policy: effectiveness of health policies, health and healthcare for different demographic groups.

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2017
Number of items: 14.

2025

Hamermesh, D. S. and Zhang, A. (2025) Human beauty illustrates the economic impact of heritable physical traits. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 122(6), e241842412. (doi: 10.1073/pnas.2418424122) (PMID:39903113)

2024

Song, H., Zhang, A. , Barr, B. and Wickham, S. (2024) Effect of Universal Credit on young children’s mental health: quasi-experimental evidence from understanding society. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, (doi: 10.1136/jech-2024-222293) (Early Online Publication)

Hamermesh, D. S. and Zhang, A. (2024) The Economic Impact of Heritable Physical Traits: Hot Parents, Rich Kid? [Research Reports or Papers]

2023

Green, C. P., Wilson, L. B. and Zhang, A. (2023) Beauty, underage drinking, and adolescent risky behaviours. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 215, pp. 153-166. (doi: 10.1016/j.jebo.2023.09.011)

Zhang, A. , Gagné, T., Walsh, D. , Ciancio, A. , Proto, E. and McCartney, G. (2023) Trends in psychological distress in Great Britain, 1991-2019: evidence from three representative surveys. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 77(7), pp. 468-473. (doi: 10.1136/jech-2022-219660) (PMID:37188500)

2021

Quintana-Domeque, C., Lee, I., Zhang, A. , Proto, E. , Battisti, M. and Ho, A. (2021) Anxiety and depression among medical doctors in Catalonia, Italy, and the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic. PLoS ONE, 16(11), e0259213. (doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0259213) (PMID:34727110) (PMCID:PMC8562811)

Proto, E. and Zhang, A. (2021) COVID-19 and mental health of individuals with different personalities. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118(37), e210928211. (doi: 10.1073/pnas.2109282118) (PMID:34508007)

Yang, W. et al. (2021) Understanding health and social challenges for aging and long-term care in China. Research on Aging, 43(3-4), pp. 127-135. (doi: 10.1177/0164027520938764) (PMID:32677535) (PMCID:PMC7961665)

2020

Zhang, A. , Nikoloski, Z., Albala, S. A., Yip, W., Xu, J. and Mossialos, E. (2020) Patient choice of health care providers in China: primary care facilities versus hospitals. Health Systems and Reform, 6(1), e1846844. (doi: 10.1080/23288604.2020.1846844) (PMID:33314985)

Lu, W., Zhang, A. and Mossialos, E. (2020) Parental migration and self-reported health status of adolescents in China: a cross-sectional study. EClinicalMedicine, 22, 100371. (doi: 10.1016/j.eclinm.2020.100371) (PMID:32462118) (PMCID:PMC7240332)

2019

Fruehwirth, J. C., Iyer, S. and Zhang, A. (2019) Religion and depression in adolescence. Journal of Political Economy, 127(3), pp. 1178-1209. (doi: 10.1086/701425)

Nikoloski, Z., Zhang, A. , Hopkin, G. and Mossialos, E. (2019) Self-reported symptoms of depression among Chinese rural-to-urban migrants and left-behind family members. JAMA Network Open, 2(5), e193355. (doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.3355) (PMID:31050782) (PMCID:PMC6503489)

2017

Su, M. et al. (2017) Availability, cost, and prescription patterns of antihypertensive medications in primary health care in China: a nationwide cross-sectional survey. Lancet, 390(10112), pp. 2559-2568. (doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32476-5) (PMID:29102087)

Zhang, A. , Nikoloski, Z. and Mossialos, E. (2017) Does health insurance reduce out-of-pocket expenditure? Heterogeneity among China's middle-aged and elderly. Social Science and Medicine, 190, pp. 11-19. (doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.08.005) (PMID:28823943)

This list was generated on Tue Mar 25 09:10:10 2025 GMT.
Jump to: Articles | Research Reports or Papers
Number of items: 14.

Articles

Hamermesh, D. S. and Zhang, A. (2025) Human beauty illustrates the economic impact of heritable physical traits. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 122(6), e241842412. (doi: 10.1073/pnas.2418424122) (PMID:39903113)

Song, H., Zhang, A. , Barr, B. and Wickham, S. (2024) Effect of Universal Credit on young children’s mental health: quasi-experimental evidence from understanding society. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, (doi: 10.1136/jech-2024-222293) (Early Online Publication)

Green, C. P., Wilson, L. B. and Zhang, A. (2023) Beauty, underage drinking, and adolescent risky behaviours. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 215, pp. 153-166. (doi: 10.1016/j.jebo.2023.09.011)

Zhang, A. , Gagné, T., Walsh, D. , Ciancio, A. , Proto, E. and McCartney, G. (2023) Trends in psychological distress in Great Britain, 1991-2019: evidence from three representative surveys. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 77(7), pp. 468-473. (doi: 10.1136/jech-2022-219660) (PMID:37188500)

Quintana-Domeque, C., Lee, I., Zhang, A. , Proto, E. , Battisti, M. and Ho, A. (2021) Anxiety and depression among medical doctors in Catalonia, Italy, and the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic. PLoS ONE, 16(11), e0259213. (doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0259213) (PMID:34727110) (PMCID:PMC8562811)

Proto, E. and Zhang, A. (2021) COVID-19 and mental health of individuals with different personalities. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118(37), e210928211. (doi: 10.1073/pnas.2109282118) (PMID:34508007)

Yang, W. et al. (2021) Understanding health and social challenges for aging and long-term care in China. Research on Aging, 43(3-4), pp. 127-135. (doi: 10.1177/0164027520938764) (PMID:32677535) (PMCID:PMC7961665)

Zhang, A. , Nikoloski, Z., Albala, S. A., Yip, W., Xu, J. and Mossialos, E. (2020) Patient choice of health care providers in China: primary care facilities versus hospitals. Health Systems and Reform, 6(1), e1846844. (doi: 10.1080/23288604.2020.1846844) (PMID:33314985)

Lu, W., Zhang, A. and Mossialos, E. (2020) Parental migration and self-reported health status of adolescents in China: a cross-sectional study. EClinicalMedicine, 22, 100371. (doi: 10.1016/j.eclinm.2020.100371) (PMID:32462118) (PMCID:PMC7240332)

Fruehwirth, J. C., Iyer, S. and Zhang, A. (2019) Religion and depression in adolescence. Journal of Political Economy, 127(3), pp. 1178-1209. (doi: 10.1086/701425)

Nikoloski, Z., Zhang, A. , Hopkin, G. and Mossialos, E. (2019) Self-reported symptoms of depression among Chinese rural-to-urban migrants and left-behind family members. JAMA Network Open, 2(5), e193355. (doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.3355) (PMID:31050782) (PMCID:PMC6503489)

Su, M. et al. (2017) Availability, cost, and prescription patterns of antihypertensive medications in primary health care in China: a nationwide cross-sectional survey. Lancet, 390(10112), pp. 2559-2568. (doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32476-5) (PMID:29102087)

Zhang, A. , Nikoloski, Z. and Mossialos, E. (2017) Does health insurance reduce out-of-pocket expenditure? Heterogeneity among China's middle-aged and elderly. Social Science and Medicine, 190, pp. 11-19. (doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.08.005) (PMID:28823943)

Research Reports or Papers

Hamermesh, D. S. and Zhang, A. (2024) The Economic Impact of Heritable Physical Traits: Hot Parents, Rich Kid? [Research Reports or Papers]

This list was generated on Tue Mar 25 09:10:10 2025 GMT.

Grants

  • British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant, PI (with Co-I Zhongliang Deng), 07.2020--06.2023

Supervision

Anwen is interested in advising PhD students in the areas of health economics, education economics, and applied microeconomics in general. Topics may include but are not limited to:

  • Determinants and consequences of health
  • Program evaluation of health/education interventions
  • Economics of ageing
  • Health care markets
  • Schooling quality and educational production
  • Health/education financing

Current supervision

Past students

  • Abdisalam Mohamed (Director General, Somalia National Bureau of Statistics)
  • Xiangqing Liu (Postdoc, Department of Economics and Management, University of Padua)
  • Zhen Long (Researcher, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics)
  • Huihui Song (Postdoc, Institute of Population Health, University of Liverpool)

Teaching

Current teaching

Past teaching

  • MSc: ECON5004P/5102P Research Methods & Dissertation Training
  • MA Honours: Skills Workshop (non-credit)
  • MA Honours: ECON4003 Econometrics 1 (tutorials and labs)
  • MA Honours: ECON4004 Econometrics 2 (tutorials and labs)
  • Level 1: ECON1001 Economics 1A

Office

  • Room 6123, Adam Smith Business School

Office hours

  • Friday 15:30-16:30 during term time, please make an appointment below 
 

Additional information

Administrative services

  • Alternate Lead, Applied Economics Research Cluster, 2023/24-present
  • Subject Engagement Lead, 2021/22-present
  • Complaints and Academic Integrity Officer, 2020/21-23/24
  • Co-organiser, Applied Economics Seminar Series, 2020/21-22/23
  • Deputy Director, Graduate Centre for Development Studies, 2021/22

Policy Report Citation of research

Media coverage of research

General interest writing


Anwen Zhang photo

Dr Anwen Zhang on Bluesky Dr Anwen Zhang on Twitter