Mahta Ghafarianghadim

I am a Ph.D. Candidate in Economics at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University, where I study how environmental exposures and policy changes affect health outcomes and economic wellbeing.

I use instrumental variables and difference-in-differences designs to identify these effects credibly, focusing on the populations who bear the largest costs of pollution and regulatory change.

In my job market paper, I show that common construction choices affect the validity of thermal-inversion instruments, and using my preferred specification, I estimate that a one-unit increase in PM2.5 raises cardiovascular mortality by 3.8 percent, with the largest effects among Black, elderly, and low-income populations. I also study the health consequences of smoking, the effects of air pollution on early childhood childcare attendance, and the economic burdens of abortion access restrictions.

I have also served as instructor of record at Georgia State University, teaching Principles of Microeconomics and Environmental Economics and Policy, with strong student evaluations (see my Teaching page for details).

Research Interests: Environmental Economics  ·  Health Economics  ·  Policy Evaluation  ·  Applied Microeconomics  ·  Causal Inference