Working Papers

Air Pollution and Avoidance Behavior: Evidence from Daily Activities in the U.S.
Individuals take action to avoid costly air pollution exposure, yet empirical evidence is limited. I investigate how people modify their daily activities to mitigate the adverse health effects of air pollution. Using phone-location based data from Safegraph, I conduct a large-scale analysis to examine the causal effect of air pollution on visitation rates to leisure facilities across the United States. By using changes in local wind direction as an instrumental variable (IV) for air pollution, I find that a 1 $\mu g/m^3$ increase in PM2.5 concentration leads to a 0.65% decrease in visitation rates (or a loss of 6595 visits) per day nationwide. This reduction is more pronounced in counties with higher incomes and larger elderly populations, suggesting better awareness of the elevated air pollution among wealthier or more vulnerable groups.

Works in Progress

Disguised Pollution: Evidence from Wind Directions

Social Networks and Charitable Givings: Evidence from Deadly Tornadoes

Which robust method better? - Simulation Studies (with EunYi Chung and Yoko Yamasaki)