Publications:
12. Xibo Wan, Yongwang Ren, Ruohao Zhang, Jiameng Zheng, and Wendong Zhang (2026), Quantifying Recreational Benefits from Fish Consumption Advisories: Insights from Cellphone Mobility Data, Accepted, Land Economics
11. Tingsi Wang and Ruohao Zhang (2025), Environmental Regulation and Firm Markup: Evidence from SO2 Reduction Policy in China, Empirical Economics 69(1):3293-3335
10. Ruohao Zhang, Huan Li, and Neha Khanna (2025), Monitoring and Enforcement and Environmental Compliance: Power Plant Emissions during the 2018-2019 Federal Government Shutdown, Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists 12(5):1355-1388
9. Ruohao Zhang and Neha Khanna (2024), Public Pressure and Heterogeneous Effects of Voluntary Pollution Abatement, Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists 11(3):719-754
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Unpublished mathematical appendix:
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8. Vladimir Atanasov, Paula Natalia Barreto Parra, Lorenzo Franchi, Jeffrey Whittle, John Meurer, Benjamin Weston, Qian (Eric) Luo, Andy Ye Yuan, Ruohao Zhang and Bernard Black (2024), Evidence on COVID-19 Mortality and Disparities Using a Novel Measure, COVID excess mortality percentage: Evidence from Indiana, Wisconsin, and Illinois, PLOS ONE 19(1):e0295936
7. Vladimir Atanasov, Paula Natalia Barreto Parra, Jeffrey Whittle, John Meurer, Benjamin Weston, Qian (Eric) Luo, Andy Ye Yuan, Lorenzo Franchi, Ruohao Zhang and Bernard Black (2023), Selection Effects and COVID-19 Mortality Risk after Pfizer vs. Moderna Vaccination: Evidence from Linked Mortality and Vaccination Records, Vaccines 11(5):971
6. Ruohao Zhang, Huan Li, Neha Khanna, Alan J. Krupnick, Elaine L. Hill, and Daniel M. Sullivan (2023), Air Quality Impacts of Shale Gas Development in Pennsylvania, Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists 10(2):447-486
5. Vladimir Atanasov, Paula Natalia Barreto Parra, Jeffrey Whittle, John Meurer, Benjamin Weston, Qian (Eric) Luo, Lorenzo Franchi, Andy Ye Yuan, Ruohao Zhang and Bernard Black (2023), Understanding COVID-19 Vaccine Effectiveness Against Death Using a Novel Measure: COVID Excess Mortality Percentage, Vaccines 11(2):379
4. Paula Natalia Barreto Parra, Vladimir Atanasov, John Meurer, Jeffrey Whittle, Qian (Eric) Luo, Ruohao Zhang and Bernard Black (2022), The Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Elderly: Population Fatality Rates, Years of Life Lost, and Life Expectancy, Elder Law Journal 30(1):33-80
3. Ruohao Zhang (2022), Economic Impact Payment, Human Mobility and COVID-19 Mitigation in the United States, Empirical Economics 62(1):3041-3060
2. Ruohao Zhang, Huan Li and Neha Khanna (2021), The Environmental Justice of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from New York State, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 110(1):102522
1. Ruohao Zhang, Subal C. Kumbhakar and Hung-pin Lai (2021), Estimation of Panel Model with Heteroscedasticity in both Idiosyncratic and Individual Specific Errors, Econometric Reviews 40(4):415-432
Selected Working Papers:
1. “Strategic Local Regulators and the Efficacy of Uniform Pollution Standards”, with Neha Khanna, working paper.
| assa_2022_presentation.pdf |
| local_regulation_strategy_2021-12-27.pdf |
We assess the effect of changes in a national pollution standard on local pollution. Local jurisdictions allocate resources in regulating pollution at the local level, and in areas with high pollution, local regulators have an incentive to strategically violate the national pollution standard and decrease regulation resources in response to a more stringent national pollution standard. Our empirical analysis of the 2006 revision of the 24-hour PM2.5 national standard provides evidence that supports this theory, showing that both monitor readings and individual plant emissions did not decrease or even increased in areas that intentionally violate the national standard.
2. “Behind Environmental Injustice: Disparate Siting Industries and Post-siting
Demographic Transformation”, working paper.
| siting_and_migration.pdf |
| assa_2023_slides.pdf |
Environmental injustice is caused by two mechanisms: disparate siting and post-siting migration. This paper shows disparate siting and post-siting transformation both significantly contribute to environmental injustice. Empirically, I analyze the relationship between the siting of fossil fuel power plants and the local racial composition at the census tract level in the U.S. between 2000 and 2019. The results suggest that fossil fuel power plants are more likely to be sited in the areas with higher minority ratios, and on average it causes an increase in the local minority ratio by 2.1%.