Welcome to my personal website. I am Leverhulme Trust and Isaac Newton Trust Early Career Fellow at the Department of Land Economy, and Governing Body Fellow of Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge. I am also a Visiting Fellow at the Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford, and affiliated with Cambridge’s Lab of Interdisciplinary Spatial Analysis.
My research applies GeoAI, GIS, big data, and causal inference methods to understand the causes and consequences of spatial inequality. Adopting a global comparative perspective that examines regions across both the Global North and South, my work seeks to provide a more holistic understanding of localization within globalization, and to explore ways to promote more inclusive and sustainable development through better multi-level governance. The work spans multiple disciplines, as I believe that the originality and novel disciplines of the future will emerge from the mix of diverse fields today.
I am the sole Early Career Plenary Speaker at the opening session of the 2025 Regional Studies Association Annual Conference, and I have also been invited to present my research findings at the Human Development Report Office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Department of International Development at the University of Oxford, among other distinguished institutions. I have provided consulting services for international organizations such as the OECD and the Asian Development Bank, and my research has been featured and cited in their flagship reports.
I received my Ph.D. in Land Economy from the University of Cambridge with no corrections (Winner of 2025 Regional Science Association International (RSAI) Best Dissertation Award), M.Sc. in Development Economics from Birmingham University with Distinction, and B.A. in Information Management and Information Systems from Renmin University of China. I have done occasional research for the International Inequalities Institute and the Department of Geography and Environment at the London School of Economics, the Cambridge Judge Business School, Tsinghua University’s Institute for China Sustainable Urbanization, and Peking University’s Institute of New Structural Economics.
I was raised by my elderly, amiable, and illiterate grandparents in a small rural village in southeastern China, where I attended local primary and junior high schools before being selected to a prestigious senior high school in the city. This early experience helps me get the start understanding of spatial inequality. As an economic geographer, I sincerely hope that through collective efforts across academia and policymaking, we can build a more geographically equitable world where individuals, regardless of their origins, have equal access to opportunities and can share in the benefits of socioeconomic prosperity.
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Ballots, Budgets and Bricks: Brexit and the Polarisation of Individual Economic Behaviours
Pei Kuang*, Davide Luca*, Zhiwu Wei* (* alphabetical order, equal contribution)
Revise and Resubmit, Journal of Public Economics
Does political polarisation influence economic expectations and actual behaviours? Using British nationally representative surveys and administrative data, we show that the Brexit referendum triggered stark divergences in individual micro and macro expectations between Leave and Remain supporters. These diverging beliefs influenced major financial decisions. Leavers became more likely to purchase durables and engage in housing transactions, and areas with higher proportions of Leave voters experienced increased housing transaction volumes and rising prices. Our findings highlight how issue polarisation, beyond partisanship, can influence both economic expectations and real-world decisions.
Ballots, Budgets and Bricks: Brexit and the Polarisation of Individual Economic Behaviours
Pei Kuang*, Davide Luca*, Zhiwu Wei* (* alphabetical order, equal contribution)
Revise and Resubmit, Journal of Public Economics
Does political polarisation influence economic expectations and actual behaviours? Using British nationally representative surveys and administrative data, we show that the Brexit referendum triggered stark divergences in individual micro and macro expectations between Leave and Remain supporters. These diverging beliefs influenced major financial decisions. Leavers became more likely to purchase durables and engage in housing transactions, and areas with higher proportions of Leave voters experienced increased housing transaction volumes and rising prices. Our findings highlight how issue polarisation, beyond partisanship, can influence both economic expectations and real-world decisions.
Local Wealth Inequality Fuels Political Protests: New Big-data Evidence from the Global South
Zhiwu Wei, Davide Luca, Neil Lee, Andrés Rodríguez-Pose
Inequality is increasingly recognised as a driver of political protest in advanced economies, yet its role across the Global South remains poorly understood. In this paper, we study how localised wealth inequality fuels protest dynamics across more than 25,000 subnational administrative units in 88 Global South countries. We assemble novel, fine-grained estimates of relative wealth to construct measures of local wealth inequality, and link them to over 645,000 georeferenced protest events recorded daily from 2014 to 2018. Exploiting variation within subnational regions, we document a robust, positive association between local wealth inequality and protest incidence. This relationship is primarily driven by proximity to the wealthiest, while a strong middle class appears to buffer these effects. The strength of this association is moderated by national context: it is stronger in countries with lower levels of economic development, higher unemployment among individuals with advanced education, weaker regulatory quality and control of corruption, and greater social fractionalisation -- but also where the rule of law and protection of expression are stronger. For a subset of countries, we develop a new measure of `experienced inequality' -- capturing individuals' exposure to wealth disparities in their immediate surroundings -- and show that it is strongly correlated with protest activity, particularly when inequality is measured within smaller, more proximate areas. Our findings reveal that localised, experienced wealth inequality is a powerful but context specific predictor of political protest across the Global South.
Local Wealth Inequality Fuels Political Protests: New Big-data Evidence from the Global South
Zhiwu Wei, Davide Luca, Neil Lee, Andrés Rodríguez-Pose
Inequality is increasingly recognised as a driver of political protest in advanced economies, yet its role across the Global South remains poorly understood. In this paper, we study how localised wealth inequality fuels protest dynamics across more than 25,000 subnational administrative units in 88 Global South countries. We assemble novel, fine-grained estimates of relative wealth to construct measures of local wealth inequality, and link them to over 645,000 georeferenced protest events recorded daily from 2014 to 2018. Exploiting variation within subnational regions, we document a robust, positive association between local wealth inequality and protest incidence. This relationship is primarily driven by proximity to the wealthiest, while a strong middle class appears to buffer these effects. The strength of this association is moderated by national context: it is stronger in countries with lower levels of economic development, higher unemployment among individuals with advanced education, weaker regulatory quality and control of corruption, and greater social fractionalisation -- but also where the rule of law and protection of expression are stronger. For a subset of countries, we develop a new measure of `experienced inequality' -- capturing individuals' exposure to wealth disparities in their immediate surroundings -- and show that it is strongly correlated with protest activity, particularly when inequality is measured within smaller, more proximate areas. Our findings reveal that localised, experienced wealth inequality is a powerful but context specific predictor of political protest across the Global South.
Mobile Internet Connectivity and Household Wealth in the Philippines
Zhiwu Wei, Neil Lee, Yohan Iddawela
Revise and Resubmit, Journal of Development Economics
Mobile internet has become a fundamental modern infrastructure. We consider how access influences household wealth in the Philippines using a granular measure of local connectivity based on geocoded cell towers and identify causal impact through an instrument based on proximity to submarine cable landing points. Our results show that mobile internet connectivity increases household wealth, with effects across education levels and most pronounced in urban areas. We investigate mechanisms and demonstrate that improved connectivity stimulates activity in key economic sectors. Mobile internet enhances educational outcomes and promotes female labor force participation, though predominantly in occasional roles.
[Current draft (July 2025)] [ADB Economics WP (November 2025)] [LSE Geography WP (July 2025)] [LSE CEP WP (July 2025)] [LSE III WP (July 2025)]
Mobile Internet Connectivity and Household Wealth in the Philippines
Zhiwu Wei, Neil Lee, Yohan Iddawela
Revise and Resubmit, Journal of Development Economics
Mobile internet has become a fundamental modern infrastructure. We consider how access influences household wealth in the Philippines using a granular measure of local connectivity based on geocoded cell towers and identify causal impact through an instrument based on proximity to submarine cable landing points. Our results show that mobile internet connectivity increases household wealth, with effects across education levels and most pronounced in urban areas. We investigate mechanisms and demonstrate that improved connectivity stimulates activity in key economic sectors. Mobile internet enhances educational outcomes and promotes female labor force participation, though predominantly in occasional roles.
[Current draft (July 2025)] [ADB Economics WP (November 2025)] [LSE Geography WP (July 2025)] [LSE CEP WP (July 2025)] [LSE III WP (July 2025)]
Progressive Nurture: Growing Up in Large Cities and the Urban-Rural Polarization of Individual Values
Davide Luca, Zhiwu Wei, Neil Lee, Andrew McNeil
Urban-rural polarisation of values is a key societal cleavage of our time. However, there is still debate about whether the differences observed across places are contextual or purely compositional. We provide novel causal evidence showing that exposure to urban density influences individual outlooks beyond compositional effects, but this influence is primarily driven by the environments where individuals spend their early years. We do this by using household panel data from both the UK and Switzerland, which allows us to combine Two-Stage-Least Squares and ‘Movers’ research designs. We show with two different approaches that exposure to urban density before age 20 causally increases support for immigration and gender equality, highlighting the lasting influence of exposure to urban density early in life.
Progressive Nurture: Growing Up in Large Cities and the Urban-Rural Polarization of Individual Values
Davide Luca, Zhiwu Wei, Neil Lee, Andrew McNeil
Urban-rural polarisation of values is a key societal cleavage of our time. However, there is still debate about whether the differences observed across places are contextual or purely compositional. We provide novel causal evidence showing that exposure to urban density influences individual outlooks beyond compositional effects, but this influence is primarily driven by the environments where individuals spend their early years. We do this by using household panel data from both the UK and Switzerland, which allows us to combine Two-Stage-Least Squares and ‘Movers’ research designs. We show with two different approaches that exposure to urban density before age 20 causally increases support for immigration and gender equality, highlighting the lasting influence of exposure to urban density early in life.
Journal Articles
Success in Tandem? The Impact of the Introduction of E-Bike Sharing on Bike Sharing Usage
Qiumeng Li, Davide Luca, Franz Fuerst, Zhiwu Wei
Research in Transportation Economics, Vol.107 (August 2024)
In recent years, shared electric bikes (e-bikes), as a novel shared micro-mobility mode, have experienced a significant increase in popularity. Yet, there is still limited evidence on whether the two forms of micro-mobility act as complements or substitutes. By exploring the effects of the entry of shared e-bikes on bike-sharing and overall shared cycling usage, this paper aims to explore the role of e-bikes in sustainable transportation solutions. The paper combines nearest-neighbour matching and a difference-in-differences event study with bi-monthly panel data of conventional bike-sharing and e-bike-sharing trips from 2020 to 2021. Results suggest that the effect of e-bike-share on bike-sharing at the grid level shifted from an initial complementary effect to a later substitution effect, ultimately resulting in a 22.6% reduction in bike-sharing usage and a 65.9% increase in overall shared cycling usage. The introduction of shared e-bikes simultaneously attracted new user groups and reduced existing barriers to using conventional bikes. With growing market saturation, any further expansion is found to have come to the detriment of the incumbent technology, i.e. the conventional pedal bike. Although shared e-bikes ultimately replaced part of shared bikes, they have increased the overall use of micro-mobility tools, contributing to the popularization of sustainable transportation.
Success in Tandem? The Impact of the Introduction of E-Bike Sharing on Bike Sharing Usage
Qiumeng Li, Davide Luca, Franz Fuerst, Zhiwu Wei
Research in Transportation Economics, Vol.107 (August 2024)
In recent years, shared electric bikes (e-bikes), as a novel shared micro-mobility mode, have experienced a significant increase in popularity. Yet, there is still limited evidence on whether the two forms of micro-mobility act as complements or substitutes. By exploring the effects of the entry of shared e-bikes on bike-sharing and overall shared cycling usage, this paper aims to explore the role of e-bikes in sustainable transportation solutions. The paper combines nearest-neighbour matching and a difference-in-differences event study with bi-monthly panel data of conventional bike-sharing and e-bike-sharing trips from 2020 to 2021. Results suggest that the effect of e-bike-share on bike-sharing at the grid level shifted from an initial complementary effect to a later substitution effect, ultimately resulting in a 22.6% reduction in bike-sharing usage and a 65.9% increase in overall shared cycling usage. The introduction of shared e-bikes simultaneously attracted new user groups and reduced existing barriers to using conventional bikes. With growing market saturation, any further expansion is found to have come to the detriment of the incumbent technology, i.e. the conventional pedal bike. Although shared e-bikes ultimately replaced part of shared bikes, they have increased the overall use of micro-mobility tools, contributing to the popularization of sustainable transportation.
The New Geography of Remote Jobs in Europe
Davide Luca*, Cem Özgüzel*, Zhiwu Wei*# (* alphabetical order, equal contribution, # corresponding author)
Regional Studies, Vol.59, No.1 (June 2024)
The paper maps the diffusion of working from home across 30 European countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. We summarise the determinants of remote working and show that its uptake was lower than in the United States, and substantially uneven across/within countries, with most remote jobs concentrated in cities and capital regions. We then apply a variance decomposition procedure to investigate whether the uneven distribution of remote jobs can be attributed to individual or territorial factors. Results underscore the importance of composition effects as, compared with intermediate-density and rural areas, cities hosted more workers in occupations/sectors more amenable to working remotely.
The New Geography of Remote Jobs in Europe
Davide Luca*, Cem Özgüzel*, Zhiwu Wei*# (* alphabetical order, equal contribution, # corresponding author)
Regional Studies, Vol.59, No.1 (June 2024)
The paper maps the diffusion of working from home across 30 European countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. We summarise the determinants of remote working and show that its uptake was lower than in the United States, and substantially uneven across/within countries, with most remote jobs concentrated in cities and capital regions. We then apply a variance decomposition procedure to investigate whether the uneven distribution of remote jobs can be attributed to individual or territorial factors. Results underscore the importance of composition effects as, compared with intermediate-density and rural areas, cities hosted more workers in occupations/sectors more amenable to working remotely.
Policy Reports
Mobile Internet Connectivity and Household Wealth in the Philippines (Policy Report)
Neil Lee, Zhiwu Wei, Yohan Iddawela
Asian Development Policy Report 2025 Background Paper, (May 2025)
The rapid spread of mobile internet has had profound economic and social consequences. In this context, understanding how policymakers can improve the economic impact of internet access is an important exercise. In this paper, we seek to understand the conditions under which mobile internet access impacts household wealth in the Philippines. In doing so, we examine factors including the urban/rural divide and the role of education in realizing the returns from better internet connectivity. We adopt an instrumental variable approach using distance to submarine cable landing points as an instrument for mobile internet access. Additionally, we exploit the staggered rollout of 0.27 million geocoded cell towers across the Philippines. Our findings show that mobile internet access significantly increases household wealth, particularly in rural areas and among less-educated households. However, proximity to cell towers appears important for internet quality, with diminished connectivity in regions farther from submarine cable landing points, which may exacerbate regional disparities. Additionally, while internet access boosts employment opportunities for secondary earners, it does not significantly impact overall female employment, which may result from structural barriers. These results suggest the need for policymakers to expand mobile internet coverage in underserved areas and to complement these investments with initiatives to improve internet quality, digital literacy, and access to educational resources. Addressing structural barriers, particularly for women and lower-income households, may also be important for ensuring equitable economic development through internet access.
Mobile Internet Connectivity and Household Wealth in the Philippines (Policy Report)
Neil Lee, Zhiwu Wei, Yohan Iddawela
Asian Development Policy Report 2025 Background Paper, (May 2025)
The rapid spread of mobile internet has had profound economic and social consequences. In this context, understanding how policymakers can improve the economic impact of internet access is an important exercise. In this paper, we seek to understand the conditions under which mobile internet access impacts household wealth in the Philippines. In doing so, we examine factors including the urban/rural divide and the role of education in realizing the returns from better internet connectivity. We adopt an instrumental variable approach using distance to submarine cable landing points as an instrument for mobile internet access. Additionally, we exploit the staggered rollout of 0.27 million geocoded cell towers across the Philippines. Our findings show that mobile internet access significantly increases household wealth, particularly in rural areas and among less-educated households. However, proximity to cell towers appears important for internet quality, with diminished connectivity in regions farther from submarine cable landing points, which may exacerbate regional disparities. Additionally, while internet access boosts employment opportunities for secondary earners, it does not significantly impact overall female employment, which may result from structural barriers. These results suggest the need for policymakers to expand mobile internet coverage in underserved areas and to complement these investments with initiatives to improve internet quality, digital literacy, and access to educational resources. Addressing structural barriers, particularly for women and lower-income households, may also be important for ensuring equitable economic development through internet access.
The New Geography of Remote Jobs? Evidence from Europe
Cem Özgüzel, Davide Luca, Zhiwu Wei
OECD Regional Development Papers, No.57 (November 2023)
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a dramatic acceleration in the diffusion of remote work. This paper contributes to understanding the phenomenon by offering the first systematic exploration of the uneven diffusion of remote jobs across Europe. Using a combination of rich individual micro-data from the European Union Labour Force Survey and regional-level characteristics, the analysis makes three contributions. First, it provides a systematic approach to measure remote work across 30 European countries. Second, it shows that cities and capital regions adapted faster to remote work than other areas of the continent. Third, it identifies and tests what factors are associated with telework uptake during the pandemic. Results show that the uneven diffusion of remote work is primarily explained by composition effects, i.e., because cities hosted more workers in occupations and sectors more amenable to working remotely.
The New Geography of Remote Jobs? Evidence from Europe
Cem Özgüzel, Davide Luca, Zhiwu Wei
OECD Regional Development Papers, No.57 (November 2023)
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a dramatic acceleration in the diffusion of remote work. This paper contributes to understanding the phenomenon by offering the first systematic exploration of the uneven diffusion of remote jobs across Europe. Using a combination of rich individual micro-data from the European Union Labour Force Survey and regional-level characteristics, the analysis makes three contributions. First, it provides a systematic approach to measure remote work across 30 European countries. Second, it shows that cities and capital regions adapted faster to remote work than other areas of the continent. Third, it identifies and tests what factors are associated with telework uptake during the pandemic. Results show that the uneven diffusion of remote work is primarily explained by composition effects, i.e., because cities hosted more workers in occupations and sectors more amenable to working remotely.