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Derrick Xu 徐明垚

I am a Postdoctoral Fellow at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center and will join the University of Southampton as an Assistant Professor in 2026. I did my PhD at the University of Bristol.

My current research explores the motives behind prosocial behaviour in contexts such as charitable giving, climate change, and political polarisation. I combine applied microeconomic tools with computer science methods to analyse non-traditional data, uncovering behavioural insights that inform solutions to social challenges.

Email: derrick.mingyao.xu@gmail.com

Working Paper

Spillovers in the Charitable Market: Evidence from Reputation Shocks (sole-author)

Revise & Resubmit at Economic Journal | draft

When a big charity is hit by scandal, do people give elsewhere or stop donating altogether? I find donors don’t give up on giving; instead, they shift support to other similar charities, identified by the words charities use in their missions.

Only in My Backyard: The Effect of Flood Exposure on Environmental Behavior (sole-author)

Revise & Resubmit at Journal of Environmental Economics and Management | draft

Do people care more about environment after climate disasters? I find that those directly affected by flooding do, but most don’t change their action when their neighbours are hit, except for those with strong moral universalist values.

Work in Progress

Do Crises Increase Parochial Altruism? Evidence from COVID (with Esteban Jaimovich and Sarah Smith)

Derrick Xu Mingyao Xu Derrick Xu Mingyao Xu Derrick Xu Mingyao Xu