About Me

I am a post-doctoral fellow at Tulane University’s Department of Economics and Murphy Institute.

As an applied economist, I use labor and applied microeconomics techniques to study economic outcomes. My research encompasses areas including discrimination, racial and ethnic identities, health, education and immigration. My recent work has explored the impact of Hispanic surnames on labor and education market prospects, the influence of ethnic perceptions on self-identification among Hispanics, and the role of peer influence on mental well-being.

I am on the 2024/2025 academic job market and am available for interviews.

I received my PhD in Economics from the University of Houston in 2023. I recieved my BS in Economics from Arizona State University.

Outside of economics, I enjoy running with my two dogs, watching college and professional sports, and trying new restaurants.

Thank you for visiting my website, and I invite you to explore further to learn more about my research and interests.

Please feel free to contact me via email.

Download my curriculum vitae, research statement, diversity statement, and teaching statement.

Interests

Applied Microeconomics
Labor Economics
Education Economics
Health Economics

Education

Ph.D. in Economics, 2023
University of Houston, Houston, TX

M.A. in Economics, 2020
University of Houston, Houston, TX

B.S. in Economics (Summa Cum Laude), 2017
Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ

Job Market Paper

In my job market paper—Peer Effects in Adolescent Mental Health—I explore the impact of peer mental health on adolescents’ mental well-being, academic performance, physical health, and behavior. I address the reflection problem in peer effects by employing a friends-of-friends instrument to estimate the influence of peer mental health. I find that a one standard deviation increase in a friend’s mental unwellness leads to a 0.73 standard deviation increase in one’s own mental unwellness. Additionally, the paper highlights the broader negative effects of peer mental health on academic achievement, physical health, and engagement in risky behavior, establishing evidence of social contagion in mental health among adolescents.

Figure 1: Peer effects of friends’ mental health on own mental health, educational, and behavioral outcomes

Figure 2: Peer effects of friends’ mental health on health, risky behavior, socialization, and alcohol and drug take up

Research

Published Work
Working Papers
Research In Progress

Publications

Hadah, H. The Effect of Racial and Ethnic Attitudes on Hispanic Identity in the U.S. Southern Economic Journal, conditionally accepted. (preprint)

Working Papers

Hadah, H. Peer Effects in Adolescent Mental Health. (preprint)
Hadah, H. The Impact of Hispanic Last Names and Identity on Educational and Labor Market Outcomes. (preprint)
Hadah, H. The Effect of Anti-Asian Attitudes on Asian Identity in the U.S.. (preprint)

Research In Progress

Button, P., Hadah, H., Schwegman, D., Selman, J., Nguyen-Phuong, T., & Balfe, C. Sexual Orientation and Racial Discrimination in Mortgage Lending: An Audit Correspondence Field Experiment.
- Related: See Balfe et al. (2022) for the pilot study.
- Note: Experiment in the field.
Button, P., Hadah, H., Harris, D., & Lundebjerg, B. Parent’s Choice or School’s Choice? Discrimination Against Students in Admission to Private, Charter, and Traditional Public Schools.
Button, P., Daniel, C., Hadah, H., Hernandez, J., Holman, M., & Mahoney, A. Auditing Crisis Pregnancy Centers: Racial Biases, Misinformation, and the Misallocation of Government Resources.
- Note: Pilot planned to go into the field in Oct. 2024.
Hadah, H. Endogenous Hispanic Identity and Ethnic Gaps in the U.S..
Hadah, H., & Compta, G. Effects of Gun Control Laws on Suicide.
Denteh, A., & Hadah, H. Immigration Enforcement and Hispanic Children Outcomes.