Jiaxiang Wang

I have always had a strong interest in understanding how the things work in the world. Even now, I still spend much time on observing plants and insects in my backyard every day. Compared with the natural world, the human world is more complicated and thus more interesting. That is why I studied economics in my undergraduate program and accounting in PhD. I decided to switch to accounting because I want to understand how companies make decisions and the underlying incentives, which is not a major topic in economics. My background in economics is not wasted though, since many contemporary accounting studies, as well as mine, utilize econometric methods. In fact, many influential accounting thinkers in history were economists as well, such as Raymond Chambers, William Paton, and Richard Mattessich. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to stand on the shoulders of giants.