Publication & Working Paper:
[1] Urban Forests: Environmental Health Values and Risks (with Eric Zou, Jianwei Xing, Jintao Xu, and Fan Xia)
Review of Economics and Statistics, Forthcoming
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Selected Presentations: 2023 Stanford SITE; 2024 ASSA Annual Meeting; 2024 NBER China Meeting Spring
Abstract: We study a massive urban afforestation policy in Beijing that planted 1/3 of a million acres of greenery in less than a decade. The policy reduces PM₂.₅ concentration at population hubs by 4.2 percent, the health value of which amounts to 1.5% of the city’s annual GDP. Rapid vegetation growth unexpectedly led to a 7.4 percent increase in pollen exposure, triggering respiratory emergency room visits, although the medical costs are outweighed by the pollution benefits. Urban forests are only partially capitalized in housing values, with buyers mainly appreciating proximity to green spaces but not the air quality improvements they bring.
[2] Greening through Tourism (Corresponding Author; with Mingying Zhu, Bo Chen, and Wei Du)
Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Reject & Resubmit
Selected Presentations: 2025 CAERE; 2025 AAEA Annual Meeting; 2025 PKU CCER Annual Meeting
Abstract: This paper investigates whether productivity growth in the service sector can improve environmental quality. Using the expansion of China's national 5A-level tourist attraction list as a natural experiment, we find that when a city obtains its first nationally recognized tourist attraction, the PM2.5 concentration declines by about 4.5% over the following decade. The improvement in air quality is driven by structural transformation resulting from the reallocation of capital and labor toward the service sector, rather than strengthened environmental regulations. The air quality improvement generated an additional USD 3.1 billion in revenue for China's tourism sector over the ten-year period.
[3] Incentivizing Environmental Public Goods: Evidence from Urban Greening in China (Corresponding Author; with Ding Ma and Xintong Li)
Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Resubmitted
Selected Presentations: 2025 China Economic Annual Conference; 2026 CAERE Annual Meeting
Abstract: China's rapid surge in urban greening over the past decade presents a puzzling deviation from global patterns. We document three stylized facts. Urban greening was stable from 2001 to 2013 but expanded rapidly afterward, coinciding with China's air pollution control efforts. More polluted cities experienced faster greening growth, and greening disproportionately occurred near air quality monitoring stations. These patterns suggest that urban greening partly reflects a strategic response by local governments to air pollution control mandates. The economic benefits of urban greening amount to approximately 1.16 trillion CNY per year, exceeding program costs. Our results suggest that top-down air pollution control reshaped local government incentives, improving the provision of environmental public goods and social welfare.
[4] Solar Powered Charging: The Role of Economic Incentives and Information Nudges (with Huanxiu Guo and Jindi Zheng)
RCT Registry: AEA RCT Registry 0016549; AEA RCT Registry 0016875
Selected Presentations: 2026 Wuhan Workshop on Experimental Economics; 2026 CAERE Annual Meeting
Abstract: We study electric vehicle users' responses to three types of demand-response policy tools: electricity prices, monetary incentives, and information nudges. Combining a time-of-use pricing natural experiment and a randomized field experiment, we document three main findings. First, electric vehicle users are highly sensitive to electricity prices, and small price changes can reallocate intraday charging demand. Second, short-term and small monetary incentives induce users to increase charging during solar-abundant days with a one-day lag, whereas environmental information nudges have no effect. Third, monetary incentives can encourage electric vehicle users to supply electricity back to the grid. Our results suggest that price and monetary incentive mechanisms can serve as effective demand-side management tools to facilitate renewable energy integration and the energy transition.
Selected Presentations: 2025 Cornell Real Estate and Urban Economics Symposium; 2025 Harvard Contract and Organization Workshop; 2025 Harvard Development Economics Workshop; 2025 International Conference of China and Development Studies; 2025 SMU-SMU-Jinan Conference on Urban and Regional Economics
Abstract: This paper examines the efficiency of public service outsourcing in debt contract enforcement. Using the foreclosure auction outsourcing reform in China as a natural experiment, we find that outsourcing significantly increases the success rate of foreclosure auctions, driven by reductions in search frictions and transaction frictions. If all foreclosure auctions in China between 2016 and 2023 had been outsourced, it would have generated a total social welfare gain of 0.54 billion CNY and an additional 26.16 billion CNY in benefits for debtors and creditors.
Paper in Chinese:
[1] 遥感时代的经济学：太空、数据与研究范式转变 (review paper; with Yifeng Guo, Yongwei Nian, and Zhijie Zhou) [Draft Available on Request]
摘要: 经济学研究主要依托于统计调查数据，但此类数据常常存在质量不佳、更新滞后、缺失严重等问题。近年来，随着遥感技术的发展和卫星数据可获得性的增强，遥感数据越来越多被应用于经济学研究中。遥感数据具有内容上的客观性、时间上的连续性、空间上的精细性和覆盖上的全域性等特点，可以有效弥补传统数据的不足。本文基于中国背景，系统评述了遥感数据在相关经济学研究领域中的应用，并讨论了其对经济学研究范式的深层影响。
My Girlfriend's Research:
Ding Ma is a Ph.D candidate at PKU National School of Development, and she will be on the 2025-2026 academic job market.
[1] Hot and Cold Choices: The Role of Extreme Temperatures in Shaping Industrial Geographical Distribution (by Ding Ma, Min Wang, Shuo Li, and Xiumei Yu)
Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 2026
Abstract: This paper examines how extreme temperatures shape firm entry decisions and industrial geography. Leveraging comprehensive firm registration data from China, we identify an inverted U-shaped relationship between temperature and firm entry, while firm exit remains largely unresponsive. Sector analyses reveal that temperature extremes suppress firm entry in agriculture and industry through production shocks, and in services through demand-side spillovers. Firms also adapt by shifting equity investments toward new firm establishments in regions with milder climates. Climate projections indicate that ongoing warming will significantly reshape industrial geography, with warmer regions experiencing greater losses. These findings highlight firm location choice as a critical channel of climate adaptation and underscore the role of temperature risk in driving long-term spatial economic change.
Abstract: China's rapid surge in urban greening over the past decade presents a puzzling deviation from global patterns. We document three stylized facts. Urban greening was stable from 2001 to 2013 but expanded rapidly afterward, coinciding with China's air pollution control efforts. More polluted cities experienced faster greening growth, and greening disproportionately occurred near air quality monitoring stations. These patterns suggest that urban greening partly reflects a strategic response by local governments to air pollution control mandates. The economic benefits of urban greening amount to approximately 1.16 trillion CNY per year, exceeding program costs. Our results suggest that top-down air pollution control reshaped local government incentives, improving the provision of environmental public goods and social welfare.
[3] Extreme Temperatures Promote High-Fat Diets (by Xi Chen, Shuo Li, Ding Ma, and Jintao Xu)
NBER Working Paper 34609
Abstract: Extreme temperatures threaten agriculture and exacerbate global food insecurity, yet their direct impact on dietary choices remains poorly understood. We provide novel evidence of how short-term exposures to extreme temperatures affect macronutrient intake in China. We show that both hot and cold weather elevate high-fat diet risks. In particular, hot weather reduces carbohydrate and protein consumption but not fat intake, while cold weather increases all nutrient intake, particularly fats. Temperature-induced dietary changes are shaped primarily by physiological responses to thermal stress, whereas physical activities demonstrate little effect. Technologies that improve indoor thermal comfort (via fans, air conditioners, and heating systems) substantially mitigate high-fat diet risks. Socioeconomic disparities are evident, with rural and poor individuals more likely to adopt high-fat diets under hot or cold weather. Projections indicate that more extreme temperatures due to climate change may increase the prevalence of high-fat diets nationally, while substantial regional heterogeneity emerges, with declines in northeast China and increases in southern China. These results highlight a crucial but overlooked pathway linking climate change to dietary health inequality.
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