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
Peer Effects in Adolescent Mental Health
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.
Research
Publications
- Hadah, H. The Effect of Racial and Ethnic Attitudes on Hispanic Identity in the U.S. Southern Economic Journal, (2024). Available at https://doi.org/10.1002/soej.12749
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. Revise and resubmit at Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy(preprint)
- Hadah, H. The Effect of Anti-Asian Attitudes on Asian Identity in the U.S. (preprint)
- Hadah, H., & Compta, G. The Effects of Waiting Periods on Firearm Suicides in the U.S.
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: We are currently working on the experimental design and expect to run the experiment in February 2025
Hadah, H. Endogenous Hispanic Identity and Ethnic Gaps in the U.S.. (Using census administrative data with the RDC).
Denteh, A., & Hadah, H. Immigration Enforcement and Hispanic Children Outcomes.
Hadah, H. Immigration Enforcement and Children Suicides.
Denteh, A., & Hadah, H. Assimilation of Hispanics and Arabs in America. (Using census administrative data with the RDC).