Eileen (Ce) Bian 边策

Eileen (Ce) Bian
边策

PhD Candidate, Sauder School of Business, UBC

Research

Working Papers

From Assignment to Achievement: Evaluating Model and Plant Contributions to Automotive Success (2024)

Presentations: Canadian Economics Association Annual Meeting (2025), JIE Summer School (2024, 2025), VSE/SBE Trade Workshop (2025), UBC Trade/Spatial Brownbag Seminar (2024), UBC Sauder Brownbag Seminar (2023)

Inferring Conduct to Guide Strategic Trade Policy (2025)

with Keith Head and Scott Orr

Accepted at Canadian Journal of Economics

Show abstract
In oligopoly market structures, optimal trade policies depend on the conduct of competing firms. Whether firms compete with prices or quantities as the strategic variables has a major quantitative and sometimes qualitative impact on the design of optimal trade policies. Conduct is not directly observable, but we develop an econometric method to infer it from data on prices, quantities, and a cost shifter such as tariffs. We apply the method to the widely used case of a constant elasticity of substitution demand and ad valorem tariffs. Using simulations, we show how policymakers could infer conduct from estimation and thereby generate domestic welfare gains from strategic trade policy when conduct is ex-ante unknown. Several caveats from the literature remain important, but our method mitigates concerns over imperfect information on conduct.

Wheels Up, Deals Down: The Role of Business Air Travel in Facilitating International Trade in India (2026)

with Maozhu Liao

Revise & Resubmit at Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice

Best Student Paper Award (Runner-Up) at the 28th ATRS World Conference (2025)

Work in Progress

Heterogeneous Product Innovations in the Automobile Industry (JMP)

Presentations: UBC Trade/Spatial Brownbag Seminar (2025), UBC Sauder Brownbag Seminar (2025)

Vertical Integration and Endogenous Trade Cost in Vehicle Shipping

Presentations: Canadian Economics Association Annual Meeting (2026, scheduled), UBC Trade/Spatial Brownbag Seminar (2025)

Empirical Strategic Trade Policy

with Keith Head, Thierry Mayer and Scott Orr

The gravity of cross-border payments and the future of dominant currencies

with Keith Head, Edwin Lai and Isabel Yan