Research
Publications
Cleaner Waters and Urbanization. (with Jeremy West). 2023. [PDF]
Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 122: 102874.
Donations make people happier: Evidence from the Wenchuan earthquake. (with Maoliang Ye). 2017. [SSRN version]
Social Indicators Research,132(1): 517-536. [Pre-doctoral Publication]. Cited by：
Helliwell, John F., Haifang Huang, and Shun Wang. “The Social Foundations of World Happiness.” World Happiness Report 2017: 8.
Losing children and mental well-being: evidence from China. (with Maoliang Ye). 2017. [SSRN version]
Applied Economics Letters, 24(12): 868-877. [Pre-doctoral Publication]
Working Papers
Permission to Build: Climate Risk and Property Tax Revenue. 2024. Job Market Paper. [PDF]
Abstract: Climate adaptation is often implemented by local governments. This paper investigates how the perverse incentive to gain property tax revenue can distort adaptation decisions, and how this inefficiency can be corrected by central governments. I empirically explore this topic in the context of wildfire risk and regulations in California. I utilize a spatial regression discontinuity design around the regulatory boundaries and construct a novel exogenous running variable based on hundreds of millions of 30×30m pixels. I find that significantly fewer houses are built in regulated areas, and this leads to a significant reduction in property tax revenue. The results generally shed light on the challenges of climate adaptation (e.g. managed retreat) where property tax incentives may create inefficient local government policies to correct housing market failures.
Who Benefits from Surface Water Pollution Programs? (with Jeremy West). 2023. [PDF] [SSRN version]
Under revision for resubmission at Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
Long-term Impacts of Early Adversity on Subjective Well-being: Evidence from the Chinese Great Famine. (with Liyan Wang and Maoliang Ye). 2024. [PDF] [SSRN version]
Under revision for resubmission at Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization.
Smoking Behavior and Mental Health: Evidence from Longitudinal Data in China. (with Liyan Wang and Maoliang Ye). 2023.
Work In Progress
Climate risk, insurance and financial health. (with Jeremy West, Grace Gu, Gonzalo Respighi Grasso, Rongjin Zhang)
Wildfire, prevention behavior, and moral hazard. (with Jeremy West)
Advertising and elections in US. (with Jeremy West)