Job Market Paper
Building energy efficiency is crucial for identifying energy-saving potential, yet such
information was not publicly available in the past. This paper examines the equilibrium
effects of a regulation in New York City that mandates increased public access to building
energy efficiency information. I find that the salience of disclosed information is key
to the effectiveness of disclosure policies in achieving desired market outcomes. I show
that enhancing the visibility of building energy efficiency disclosures leads to the
emergence of energy efficiency premiums and motivates buildings to make energy efficiency
improvements. Particularly, luxury buildings exhibit more substantial responses. In addition,
the study presents evidence that energy efficiency premiums cannot be fully explained by
energy bill savings. I develop and estimate an equilibrium model of demand for homes and
building energy efficiency, as well as buildings' choices of energy efficiency levels,
to evaluate the welfare and distributional impact of the disclosure policies.
Working papers
The Economics of Agglomeration: Evidence from Grocery Stores
with Franklin Qian, Xiang Zhang[abstract] [pdf]
We estimate the strengths of agglomeration spillovers in the local non-tradable service
sector using 413 grocery store openings in the U.S. in 2018-2019. We combine deep learning
tools with propensity score estimation to find counterfactual opening sites and compare
business outcomes surrounding actual and counterfactual sites. We find openings of grocery
stores lead to significant growth in foot traffic to their opening locations and a 39 percent
increase in foot traffic to businesses within 0.1 miles. The spillovers of demand are
strongest between new grocery stores and businesses in wholesale and retail and hospitality
services. We also find that grocery store openings lead to a 6.9 percentage point higher
growth in the number of businesses within 0.1 miles of the openings 0-3 years later.
The Value of Cleaner Waterways: Evidence from the Black-and-Odorous Water Program in China
with Yue Yu[abstract] [pdf]
This paper investigates the economic impacts of cleaning up heavily polluted waterways
in urban neighborhoods. We exploit the Black-and-Smelly Water Program, a major urban
environmental campaign in China, as a natural experiment to identify the causal impact
of cleaner waterways on local housing prices, housing supply, and business growth.
First implemented in 2016, the program remediated heavily polluted waterways in China's
most developed cities. Using a difference-in-differences estimator, we find that the
program mainly benefits properties within 1 mile of cleaned-up waterways: These properties
had prices 3.7 percent lower before the program and saw a 2.3 percent appreciation in market value
after the program. We also show that developers constructing new apartment complexes
near BSW sites tend to provide high-end units with high-quality finishes and spacious
layouts. Furthermore, we observe various service businesses thriving in the neighborhoods
close to cleaned waterways, which indicates the revitalization of these areas. Our findings
shed light on the effects of environmental programs on real estate markets and neighborhood
dynamics.