Last updated in December 2025

Hello! I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST).

My research interests are environmental economics and urban economics.

I am seeking candidates for RA (both junior & senior), MPhil, PhD, and Postdoc positions with a strong interest in urban and environmental economics, excellent analytical skills, and good English writing skills. Ideal candidates will be proficient in Stata, MATLAB, ArcGIS, R, and/or Python. If you are interested, please submit your CV, a code sample, and a writing sample to my email at dyrao@ust.hk. Sponsorship for a Hong Kong working visa is available.

Interests

  • Environmental Economics
  • Urban Economics

Education

  • PhD in Applied Economics and Management, 2022　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

    Cornell University, Committee Chair: Shanjun Li

  • MSc in Applied Economics and Management, 2017

    Cornell University

  • BEcon in Energy Economics, 2015

    Renmin University of China

Publications

With World Bank Author Team.
November 2025 World Bank Global Water Monitoring Series

Continental Drying: A Threat to Our Common Future

Summary Full Report
With Shipei Zeng.
November 2024 Computational Economics

Random Forests with Economic Roots: Explaining Machine Learning in Hedonic Imputation

Full Text RePEc
With Panle Jia Barwick, Shanjun Li, Nahim Bin Zahur.
March 2024 The Review of Economics and Statistics

The Healthcare Cost of Air Pollution: Evidence from the World's Largest Payment Network

PDF REStat The Economist VoxDev VoxEU VoxChina NBER SSRN

Working Papers

With Angyang Lai, Shanjun Li, Yongfan Zhao, Fan Zhang
October 2025 Working Paper

The Impact of Water Resources on Trade under a Changing Climate

With Shanjun Li, Ivan Rudik, Fan Zhang
October 2025 Working Paper

Water Woes in a Woven World: The Economic and Trade Impacts of Water Stress

September 2025 Working Paper

The Role of Environmental Amenities in the Urban Economy: Evidence From a Spatial General Equilibrium Approach

PDF SSRN
With Panle Jia Barwick, Dave Donaldson, Shanjun Li, Yatang Lin
July 2024 Working Paper

Improved Transportation Networks Facilitate Adaptation to Pollution and Temperature Extremes

PDF NBER NBER Digest

Works-in-Progress

  • Trade War ’Winners’ Revisited: Environmental Consequences of Manufacturing Relocation
    with Yuta Suzuki, Sifan Xue, and Yun Liu
    funded by IEMS (80,000 HKD) and Li & Fung Institute (80,000 HKD)

  • Bridging Divides: The Influence of Urban Transportation on Economic Equity
    with Zoey Yiyuan Zhou
    funded by RGC General Research Fund (827,500 HKD)

  • Local Governance and Environmental Regulation: Evidence from China’s Urbanization
    with Mengwei Lin, and Zeyu Chen
    funded by RGC Early Career Scheme (535,000 HKD)

  • Do Local Government Officials Tunnel Public Goods to Corporations in China? Evidence from Subway Land Auctions
    with Yan Zhang, Shiyu Wang

  • Quantifying the Impact of COVID-19 on Economic Activities Through Air Pollution
    with Zhengyuan Wu, and Shanjun Li

  • Traffic Congestion and Consumer Spending
    with Nahim Bin Zahur

Teaching

Course Code Course Title 2023SP 2024SP 2024FA 2025SU 2026SP
ECON 2103 Principles of Microeconomics 4.0 [57] 4.6+[50] (sched.)
ECON 44541 Green Economy and Sustainability 4.4+[31] 4.6 [17] 4.6+[52] (sched.)
ECON 56702 Urban Economics 4.8 [11] 4.9+[46] 5.0+[30] (sched.)
1 Previously ECON 4999X
2 Previously ECON 6100Q
avg. rating [enrollment]
+: Recognition of Excellent Teaching Performance
(sched.): Scheduled

Contact