| 主讲人简介： | 黄炜，北大博雅青年学者、北大国发院经济学教授、海外高层次国家级青年人才计划入选者、国家社科基金重大项目首席专家、国发院本科教学主任、中国经济研究中心副主任、健康老龄与发展研究中心副主任。先后任职于美国经济研究局（NBER）、新加坡国立大学（NUS）和美国埃默里大学（Emory University）。研究兴趣主要集中于劳动经济学、健康经济学和公共经济学等领域。黄炜老师于2016年获得哈佛大学经济学博士学位。黄炜老师在 Nature、REStat、AEJ-applied、JoLE、JPubE、JDE、 JHR、JEP 和《经济研究》《管理世界》《经济学（季刊）》《世界经济》等经济学权威学术期刊上发表论文50余篇。担任国际SSCI杂志EoT 共同主编, JHE, JEBO, CER和JAE副主编以及《经济学》（季刊）副主编。曾获张培刚发展经济学青年学者奖，青木昌彦经济学论文奖，教育部人文社科优秀成果-青年成果奖等。 |
| 简介： | This paper examines whether culturally salient yet formally irrelevant symbols can distort performance in high-stakes institutional settings. We study the widespread Chinese superstition linking the number four to death, using administrative data on over ten million students who took the National College Entrance Examination (Gaokao). Exploiting the quasi-random assignment of candidate identification numbers, we find that students assigned an ID ending in four score significantly lower, but only when the digit appears in the final, cognitively salient position. The effect is concentrated among Han Chinese students and is stronger in regions with deeper Confucian cultural traditions. It is most pronounced among students near university admission thresholds. Back-of-envelope calculations suggest that this symbolic cue led to hundreds of lost college placements and measurable long-term income losses. The results highlight how culturally mediated psychological responses can undermine fairness even in procedurally neutral systems. |