Forecasting Behavior

By: Maisie O'Brien

Shuying Candice Lin, AG25, MS in Economics, found inspiration for her specialization in economics not in a textbook, but in the changing of the seasons. Growing up in South China, she noticed how the winter months brought a distinct malaise to her community that lifted once the warmer weather returned. She developed an early fascination with how the environment and other external factors shape human behavior.

One of her first undergraduate research projects in economics explored whether air quality impacts financial predictions made by security analysts. She was elated to discover her hypothesis was correct: a smoggy forecast correlates with less optimistic financial predictions.

“I loved this study because it was the first time I turned my personal experience into a formal, relatively rigorous research study,” Lin recalls. “I know how it feels when the weather is bad. Everything seems a little worse and that can lead to bias. It inspired me to keep studying economics because I want to understand how people and institutions operate within the complexities of the world."

Lin completed her bachelor’s degree in accounting at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies in China and conducted a year-long exchange at the University of California, Berkeley where she enrolled in as many economics courses as she could. She was moved by economics’ unique and rigorous frameworks for understanding the economy, and resolved to pursue an advanced degree in the subject.

She chose Tufts MS in Economics program because of its strong academic reputation and the generous scholarship she received, seeing it as the ideal place to strengthen her theoretical foundation and prepare for advanced research.

At Tufts, Lin’s second-year research projects with Professor of Economics Marcelo Bianconi and courses with Associate Professor of Economics Alan Finkelstein Shapiro, Professor of Economics Douglas Gollin, Professor of Economics Jefferey Zabel, and Assistant Professor of Economics ChaeWon Baek were particularly formative. “My professors were so knowledgeable and encouraging,” she says. “They continue to inspire me as a PhD student today—it feels like they planted seeds and now those ideas are slowly beginning to sprout.”

She also received encouragement from her classmates who bonded over their research and coursework. “It was a warm, collaborative atmosphere,” she says. “Studying with my cohort made me really happy because you’re never working alone. There were always peers and mentors willing to help. We became very close.”

Lin also valued the teaching experience she gained at Tufts as a teaching assistant in the Statistics for Quantitative Economics course. “It was rewarding because I remember how difficult it was for me to master these concepts, and I never want anyone to feel discouraged,” she says. “I loved seeing students’ relieved smiles when they left my office hours.”

This fall, Lin began a PhD program in economics at the University of California, Santa Cruz where she is continuing to develop her research in economics. “I love uncovering the mechanisms behind economic behavior,” she says. “I’m excited to keep designing theoretical and empirical frameworks that help explain how real-world decisions are made.”

Outside of economics, Lin enjoys learning languages. She is fluent in English and Mandarin and conversational in French. “Studying different languages and cultures is a gateway for me,” she says. “It’s another way of understanding how people think.”

Image: Shuying Candice Lin, AG25, and her advisor Professor of Economics Marcelo Bianconi at Tufts Commencement in May 2025.