About
Derek Wu is an assistant professor of public policy and economics at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia. His research interests lie in labor and public economics, focusing on poverty and inequality, the effects of government programs, and the economics of education. His work is supported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Administration for Children and Families) and the Washington Center for Equitable Growth.
Wu received his PhD in 2021 from the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy. Prior to graduate school, he worked at the nonprofit group Ithaka S+R, the White House Council of Economic Advisers, and the National Council for Teacher Quality, and has served as a voting member on the Maryland State Board of Education. He received an A.B. in 2013 from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs.
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Areas of Expertise
- Social safety net design, take-up, and administrative burdens (SNAP, Medicaid, TANF; application/recertification frictions; digital access)
- Poverty and inequality measurement using linked survey‚ administrative data (income distribution, underreporting, program targeting)
- Targeting, efficiency, and welfare evaluation of social programs
- Labor supply and work incentives in means-tested programs
- Quasi-experimental methods for public policy evaluation (difference-in-differences/event studies, regression discontinuity, linked administrative data designs)