Work in Progress
The Welfare Effects of Invisible Densification, with Jiayin Hu, Shangchen Li, and Yue Yu
(Draft available upon request)
Abstract: Reconstructing the existing housing stock is a critical yet understudied approach to expanding affordable housing. This paper investigates the causal impact of invisible densification --- the conversion of living rooms into additional bedrooms --- facilitated by the largest PropTech rental platform in Beijing. Exploiting a natural experiment and employing an instrumental variable strategy, we find that a 1% increase in the share of remodeled units leads to a 0.9% decline in bedroom rents, a 0.5% decline in rents for non-remodeled rental units, and a 2.2% reduction in apartment sale prices. To evaluate welfare impacts, we develop a structural model that incorporates tenants' heterogeneous preferences for public amenities and analyzes the distributional effects of remodeling. Results reveal that disadvantaged groups exhibit stronger preferences for remodeled housing, whereas residents in buildings with such units experience negative externalities. Counterfactual analyses quantify the welfare consequences of these externalities and explore how alternative spatial allocations of remodeling could improve affordability.
Presented at European UEA
The Recovery of Forest and its Impacts on Left-Behind Children in Western China, with Christopher Timmins
(Draft available upon request)
Abstract: This paper explores the effectiveness of these policies on afforestation on rural families (including adultsand children) considering policy-induced land transition and labor migration. Embedding changes in land use and labor allocation in the triple difference approach and the instrumental variable approach, we extend afforestation studies in three dimensions: characterizing its short- and long-run effects on income and off-farm migration, estimating its spillover effects on Left Behind Children, and evaluating its distributional welfare effects. The results provide evidence of negative effects on vulnerable groups and left-behind children, showing that lower-income rural adults are significantly more likely to out-migrate for urban jobs corresponding to afforestation induced land transition. Though children are less likely to quit schools due to compensation from afforestation and remittance, left-behind children’s education performance and life attainments including marriage, health, and income in adulthood are adversely affected. Afforestation policies have regressive impacts and favor wealthy families and families with less arable land. Provided that the PES policy was designed to protect forest resources as well as alleviate poverty in rural areas, the differential welfare
results raise the concern of environmental justice in policy design and evaluations.
Presented at Western Economic Association (WEAI) Annual Conference, Southern Economic Association (SEA) Annual Conference, AARES Conference, NAREA Scholar Circle
Crops, Bugs, and Disease: the Unintended Consequences of Environmental Policies on Ecosystem and Human Health, with Congyuan Cui, Zhengwen Liu, Yun Qiu, Nan Xiao
(Draft available upon request)
Abstract: Environmental policies can disrupt ecosystems, leading to unexpected health consequences. This paper examines how China's straw-burning ban, implemented to reduce air pollution, unintentionally increases vector-borne diseases by altering agricultural landscapes. Leveraging the policy's staggered implementation and a large hospitalization database spanning a broad geographic area (2011-2022), we employ a difference-in-differences (DID) approach for causal identification. Our results show that the ban has increased hospitalizations and medical expenditures for vector-borne diseases by 60 to 180\%, raising annual hospital medical costs by \$280 million. To trace the impact pathway, we show that the policy led to a decline in cropland fires, an increase in insect abundance, and a surge in online searches for insect bites and pest control measures. The results highlight the complex interactions between human interventions and natural ecosystems, emphasizing the need for policy designs that account for unintended ecological and health effects.
Presented at PKU IGHD & SOE
Impacts of Transportation Infrastructure on Labor Market and Residential Mobility: the Effects of New Metro Lines in Los Angeles, with Chris Severen
Crafting the Soundscape of the Future: Economic Impacts of Traffic Road Noise, with Yatang Lin and Cong Peng
funded by General Research Fund (GRF), 2024
High-speed Rail and Migration in China, with Deyu Rao, Lin Yang and Yatang Lin