Essays in urban and public economics

Ahmadizadeh, Mohammad

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/116094 Copy

Description

Title

Essays in urban and public economics

Author(s)

Ahmadizadeh, Mohammad

Issue Date

2022-07-14

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Bernhardt, Mark Daniel

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Bernhardt, Mark Daniel

Committee Member(s)

• Esfahani, Hadi
• McMillen, Daniel
• Deryugina, Tatyana

Department of Study

Economics

Discipline

Economics

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

Air Quality, Dust Storm, Housing Market, Drought, Migration, Donation, Religious beliefs

Abstract

The first chapter is co-authored paper that provides new empirical evidence on the economic impact of climate change. We investigate the effect of the recent increase in the number of dust storms and exposure to dust emissions on the housing market in Iran. We combine the individual level data from almost two million housing transactions in the Iranian housing market and data on dust storm exposure from on-the-ground weather stations over recent decades. Our results show that the increase in the number of dust storms since 2008, is associated with a 5.5 percentage point decrease in the city-level average of housing prices. This research is among the first papers to investigate the recent impact of environmental degradation on the housing market. In the second chapter, I study the heterogeneous family migration response to drought. This study found that families in Iran prefer to migrate together. The results show that family migration increases by 1.31-5.04 percent for different microclimates following a ten percent decrease in annual rainfall. Household heads migrate alone in some microclimates, but the migration increase is less than family migration. The results are robust after controlling for employment status at the destination. The results suggest that those working in the agricultural sector are more vulnerable to drought. This paper also finds that people migrating from drought-hit regions end up in higher-skilled jobs, and are less likely to have a formal job or a farming job at the destination. In the third chapter, I study the effect of a shock to religious beliefs on charitable giving. I exploit a difference-in-difference model and use the incidents after the 2009 Iranian presidential election. I use a geographic discontinuity between the populations of two Islamic sectors, Shia and Sunni, and the shock to Shia’s religious beliefs following a religious-political movement. I find that the average annual donation by the Shia population drops by 25.4 percent, following the deadly crackdown on the protests. The results also indicate there exist heterogeneities in effects. Religious giving by the first two income quantile decreased by 40 percent. This study provides a new identification strategy to investigate the impact of religious beliefs on charitable giving. It also sheds light on how people are giving donations in Islam and how it changes in response to a shock.

Graduation Semester

2022-08

Type of Resource

Thesis

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2022 Mohammad Ahmadizadeh

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