Biography
Bo Zhao is a Senior Economist in the New England Public Policy Center at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.  He specializes in urban and regional economics and public economics.  His research interests currently focus on state and local public finance, housing markets, and fair housing and lending.

Mr. Zhao served on the Municipal Aid Subcommittee of the Municipal Finance Task Force between 2006 and 2007. He was selected by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation as one of 20 young scholars nationwide to participate in the 2005 Entrepreneurship Research Boot Camp at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His articles have appeared in the Journal of Urban Economics, and have been presented at various academic meetings, including the National Tax Association's annual conferences.

Mr. Zhao earned a Ph.D. in economics and an M.S. in applied statistics from Syracuse University.

Education

Ph.D., economics, The Maxwell School, Syracuse University, 2005

Paul Speranza Tax Policy Research Scholarship, 2002-2004

Maxwell Summer Fellowship, 2004

Center for Policy Research Summer Research Fellowship, 2002

M.S., applied statistics, Syracuse University, 2002

B.A., economics, People’s University of China, with distinction, 1997

Work experience

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

Senior Economist, New England Public Policy Center, 2008-

Economist, New England Public Policy Center, 2005-2008

Syracuse University

Research Associate, Center for Policy Research, 2000-2005

Instructor, Summer 2003

Tutor, Stevenson Educational Center, 2000-2001

Teaching Assistant, 1999-2000

Books

Racial and Ethnic Discrimination in Urban Housing Markets: Evidence from Audit Studies, Ann Arbor, MI: ProQuest / UMI, 2006.

“Data Appendix,” in The Color of Credit: Mortgage Discrimination, Research Methodology, and Fair-Lending Enforcement, Stephen L. Ross and John Yinger, eds. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2002.

Journals

“Do Lenders Discriminate Against Minority and Woman Entrepreneurs?” with Lloyd A. Blanchard and John Yinger. Journal of Urban Economics. vol. 63, no. 2 (March 2008): 467-497.

“Why Do Real Estate Brokers Continue to Discriminate? Evidence from the 2000 Housing Discrimination Study,” with Jan Ondrich and John Yinger. Journal of Urban Economics. vol 59, no. 3 (May 2006): 394-419.

“Does the Number of Houses a Broker Shows Depend on a Homeseeker's Race?” Journal of Urban Economics. vol. 57, no. 1 (January 2005): 128-147.

Working papers

“Measuring Disparities in Non-School Costs and Revenue Capacity among Massachusetts Cities and Towns,” with Katharine Bradbury. FRB Boston Series, paper no. 06-19 (2006).

“The Lack of Affordable Housing in New England: How Big a Problem? Why Is It Growing? What Are We Doing About It?” with Alicia Sasser and Darcy Rollins (with an overview by Robert Tannenwald), New England Public Policy Center Series, paper no. 06-1 (2006).

“Do Credit Market Barriers Exist for Minority and Women Entrepreneurs?” with Lloyd A. Blanchard and John Yinger, Center for Policy Research Working Paper Series no. 74, Syracuse University (2005).

“Why Do Real Estate Brokers Continue to Discriminate? Evidence from the 2000 Housing Discrimination Study,” with Jan Ondrich and John Yinger, Center for Policy Research Working Paper Series no. 67, Syracuse University (2005).

“Housing Discrimination Motives and Brokers’ Marketing Behaviors: Current Status and Recent Changes,” with Stephen L. Ross and John Yinger (2005).

Public policy briefs

“Measuring Non-School Fiscal Imbalances of New England Municipalities,” with Katharine Bradbury, New England Public Policy Center Policy Brief Series no. 07-6, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, July 2007.

Other material

Discrimination in Metropolitan Housing Markets: National Results from Phase I HDS 2000, with Margery Austin Turner, Stephen L. Ross, George C. Galster, John Yinger, Erin B. Godfrey, Beata A. Bednarz, Carla Herbig, Seon Joo Lee, and AKM. Rezaul Hossain, final report submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, November 2002.

Testimony

“National Economic Overview,” Joint Economic Briefing before the New Hampshire House and Senate Ways and Means and Finance Committees, December 13, 2005.

Public service

Municipal Finance Task Force, Municipal Aid Subcommittee

Member, 2006-2007

 

Organizer, “Financing Municipalities in New England: Revisiting the State-Local Relationship,” New England Public Policy Center’s 3rd annual conference, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, December 2007.

 

Judge, College Fed Challenge Competition, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, 2007.

High School Fed Challenge Competition, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, 2008.

 

Dissertation Committee for Ph.D. candidate Timothy F. Page, Department of Economics, University of New Hampshire

Member, June 2007-

Discussant, National Tax Association’s annual conference (2006), American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association’s annual conference (2008), Federal Reserve System Committee on Regional Analysis annual conference (2007), Federal Reserve System Committee on Applied Microeconomics annual conference (2008).

Referee: Journal of Urban Economics, Regional Science and Urban Economics