Research

My research examines how financial constraints, firm heterogeneity, and regulatory frameworks shape environmental outcomes, productivity, and economic welfare — drawing on reduced-form estimation and general equilibrium models.

Published Papers

• Default Risk, Productivity, and the Environment: Theory and Evidence from U.S. Manufacturing
  Environmental and Resource Economics, 2020, 75(4): 677–710
  Extends the general-equilibrium model of credit constraints and pollution to analyze default risk. Using establishment-level credit scores and pollution data for U.S. manufacturing, estimates that default risk increases aggregate emissions primarily through the technology-upgrading effect.
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• Do Tax Cuts Encourage Rent Seeking by Top Corporate Executives? Theory and Evidence
  with Ramón López
  Contemporary Economic Policy, 2019, 37(2): 219–235 Lead Article
  Develops a model distinguishing effort and rent-seeking responses to income taxes. Finds that rent seeking is an important component of the response to tax changes, especially among executives in firms with the worst corporate governance.
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• The Role of Adolescent Health in Adult SES Outcomes
  with Pinar Gunes
  B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, 2018, 18(2): 1–16 Lead Article
  Uses within-twin estimation to show that poor adolescent health reduces long-term earnings and household income, with effects that increase over the life cycle, primarily through the persistence of health conditions.
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• Accounting for Loss of Variety and Factor Reallocations in the Welfare Cost of Regulations
  Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 2018, 88: 69–94
  Develops a GE model with monopolistic competition and firm heterogeneity to show that the true welfare cost of environmental regulations exceeds direct compliance costs by 3–20% due to loss of product variety and factor reallocations across firms.
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• Do Credit Constraints Favor Dirty Production? Theory and Plant-Level Evidence
  Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 2017, 84: 189–208
  Shows that credit constraints distort asset composition toward tangible (pollution-generating) assets. Establishment-level evidence from U.S. manufacturing confirms that credit constraints significantly increase pollution emissions, particularly in industries reliant on external credit.
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• Credit Constraints, Technology Upgrading, and the Environment
  Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, 2016, 3(2): 283–319
  Develops a GE model with firm heterogeneity and endogenous technology upgrading to analyze how credit constraints affect aggregate pollution. Cross-country evidence shows that credit reforms reduce sulphur dioxide and lead concentrations by 0.5% and 1.1% after five years.
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Book Chapters

• Are Household Borrowing Constraints Bad for the Environment? Theory and Cross-Country Evidence
  In Matthias Ruth (Ed.), A Research Agenda for Environmental Economics, Chapter 11, 184–214. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2020.
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Working Papers

• The Environmental Consequences of Corporate Tax Cuts
  with Eric Ohrn and Mark Curtis
• Air Pollution, Worker Productivity, and Adaptation: Evidence from Payroll Data of Canadian Tree Planters
  with Liyuan Xuan
• Environmental Regulations and Labor Markets: Evidence from the Clean Air Act
• Optimal Corrective Taxes in the Context of Monopolistic Competition and Firm Heterogeneity
• Local Labor Market Effects of Environmental Regulations in Canada
  with Joseph Marchand
• The Role of Carbon Levies on Resource Rents: Evidence from Oil and Gas Land Auctions in Western Canada
  with Long Zhao
• Unemployment and Crime in Turkey
  with Pinar Gunes
• Birth-Order Effects in the Developed and Developing World: Evidence from International Test Scores
  with Pinar Gunes
• Natural Resources and Persistent Political Institutions