About Me
I am a labor, health, and education economist and a postdoctoral fellow at Tulane University’s Department of Economics and Murphy Institute. My research uses causal inference methods, field experiments, and administrative data to evaluate policies and understand economic behavior in contexts such as discrimination, identity formation, peer effects, institutional effectiveness, and public health interventions.
My work addresses critical policy questions with real-world impact. I have published in the Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy on how Hispanic surnames affect educational and labor market outcomes, and my ongoing projects examine discrimination in mortgage lending, school admissions, and the role of ethnic perceptions in Hispanic self-identification.
My research on school choice and discrimination, supported by the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) Social Policy Research Initiative, investigates discrimination in admissions across private, charter, and traditional public schools.
I earned my PhD in Economics from the University of Houston in 2023, and graduated with a B.S. in Economics from Arizona State University.
Outside of economics, I enjoy running with my two dogs through New Orleans, following college and professional sports, and exploring the city’s incredible culinary scene.
Please feel free to contact me if you have questions about my work or would like to discuss economic research.
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
Research
Notes: * = Student co-author at time of writing/research.
Publications
Hadah, H. The Impact of Hispanic Last Names on Educational and Labor Market Outcomes. forthcoming at Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy(preprint)
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 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. (preprint)
- Hadah, H. The Effect of Immigration Enforcement on Suicide Rates Among Hispanic Youth (Draft available soon.)
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.
- Note: we will be estimating discrimination based on race and ethnicity (White, Black, Hispanic), sexual orientation, gender identity, disability (student has an IEP), and religion (Christian, Jewish, Muslim). We are finalizing the experimental design and will be running a pilot study in Fall 2025.
- Grant: We received a $140,746.6 grant from J-PAL Social Policy Research Initiative / Racial Equity Special Topic RFP.
- You can find a link to a Russell Sage Foundation letter of interest using this link.
- You can find a link to the slides presented at J-PAL here.
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 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.
Denteh, A., & Hadah, H. Assimilation of Hispanics and Arabs in America. (Using census administrative data with the RDC).