He is the William D. Hacker Professor of Economics at the California Institute of Technology since 2023.

He received his Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University in 1998, working on his thesis under the supervision of Frank A. Wolak.

Since 2021, Shum has also been a member of the economics team on the Amazon Scholars program.

[1][2] Shum's research lies at the intersection between econometrics and the study of industrial organizations that involves applying statistical modeling to consumer and firm-level datasets, studying equilibrium models of rational decision making.

[1] Aside from his work conducting research in the field of economics, Shum also has a history of performing editorial duties.