Research: Environmental and social risks, vulnerable populations, and policy adaptation
Research: Environmental and social risks, vulnerable populations, and policy adaptation
Environmental and social risks—rising temperatures, pollution, and access disparities—are increasingly reshaping health and social outcomes. Vulnerable populations often face disproportionate burdens under these stressors. My research investigates how environmental changes interact with social vulnerabilities, how public policies shape adaptation responses, and how institutional capacity can promote resilience and equity.
In summary, my work integrates two key perspectives:
Environmental Change and Human Health: How do environmental stressors impact physical and psychological well-being and adaptive behaviors? Health
Behavioral Responses to Environmental Policy: How do regulatory interventions and institutional capacities influence behavioral compliance and shape environmental and social outcomes? Compliance
Across projects, I mainly use causal inference methods and administrative and environmental data to study how environmental stressors and public policies influence health, behavior, and access to services for vulnerable groups.
Publications & Selected work in progress
[JMP] The Psychological Toll of Heat: The Effects of Temperature on Mental Health in Mexico Climate Health with Antonia Vazquez [Draft]
We show that higher temperatures increase emergency department visits for mental health issues, especially for mood and substance use disorders, and elevate suicide rates and deaths. Self-reported measures of life dissatisfaction and distress worsen during hotter periods. People reduce physical activity and shift to sedentary behaviors, but no significant impacts on quantity of sleep were observed. We also present evidence that the impact of heat was mitigated in localities with access to psychiatrists.
First Place Award in 2025 CHEER Research Retreat Poster Session; Best Student Poster Award at 2024 Development Economics Workshop | SSRN Working Paper #5086299
[PUB] Heat and humidity on early-life outcomes: evidence from Mexico Climate Health Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 129, January 2025.
I provide evidence on the detrimental effect of in utero exposure to heat and humidity on children’s health at birth in a middle-income country, Mexico. The combined effects of humidity and high temperature on birth outcomes are greater than that of high temperature alone, suggesting that the damaging effects of high temperature can be underestimated when humidity is not accounted for. I also present evidence that the adverse effects of heat on health at birth can be mitigated by adopting air conditioning.
Best Student Poster Award at 2023 STATA Empirical Microeconomics Conference | SSRN Working Paper #4685781
[WP] Depression Remission and Weather Stressors Climate Health with Manuela Angelucci and Antonia Vazquez
[WP] The Effect of Methane Regulation on Landfill Compliance Behavior Climate Compliance
[WP] Bordering Heat: Institutional Differences and Health Impacts of Extreme Temperatures Across the U.S.-Mexico Border Climate Health with Fidel Gonzalez
[PUB] Do ICT investments decrease firm size? A firm-level study on manufacturing sector
Journal of Industrial Economics and Business, 33(1), February 2020, with Sang Taek Kim. Based on my master's dissertation.
Research in Public Health
[PUB] Explaining ethnic disparities in telehealth use with different levels of English proficiency: a decomposition approach Health with Nari Yoo and Yoonyoung Choi | Forthcoming at Telemedicine Reports
[PUB] The unequal weight of COVID-19 pandemic: national trends in body mass index among Korean adolescents by immigrant origin and gender from 2013 to 2022 Health International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 29(1), August 2024, with Nari Yoo and Yoonyoung Choi
[PUB] Immigrant-origin youths at risk: trends in suicidal behaviors among Korean adolescents by immigrant origins and ethnic options (2011–2019) Health Journal of Affective Disorders, 321, January 2023, with Nari Yoo and Yoonyoung Choi