Maha Rehman
@MahaRehman1
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I build and test models of how behavior and production adapt under risk and uncertainty | Applied Economics PhD @Cornell | Formerly @DukeEcon
Ithaca, NY, USA.
Joined April 2011
I study how networks, institutions, and shocks interact to shape adaptation and misallocation. I build and test models of how behavior and production adjust under risk—across networks, disasters, and digital systems. Publications and Drafts: https://t.co/VVVkhe6k9G
My research agenda connects three strands: how behaviors shift in dense networks, how firms over-adapt (and misallocate) after disasters in environments of policy and aid uncertainty, and how digital monitoring reshapes resource use. Across these, I study thresholds, adaptation,
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The results formalise how lowering adoption costs and observability shifts collective behaviour equilibria—offering a general framework for rapid norm change in thin-institution contexts facing recurring crises. (6/6)
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It was the first study to randomise using an electricity utility’s sub-division infrastructure and link administrative billing data to behavioural rollout—showing how existing systems can deliver public-good interventions. (5/6)
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The intervention raised correct mask use at a fraction of comparable rural costs—revealing economies of scale in dense networks and how visibility amplifies compliance. (4/6)
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Building on Abaluck et al. (2021), the design isolates how lowering adoption costs and raising salience interact to shift public-goods provision in dense urban networks. (3/6)
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In 2021, I tested a threshold model of behavioural adoption through a large-scale randomised experiment across Lahore—the first urban field test of this kind in Pakistan. (2/6)
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As health and environmental crises intensify, understanding how social equilibria form in response to crises and can be shifted becomes central especially in developing economies where institutions are thin but networks dense. (1/6)
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And now the sunset. From the most writing-conducive corner on campus.
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I study how networks, institutions, and shocks interact to shape adaptation and misallocation. I build and test models of how behavior and production adjust under risk—across networks, disasters, and digital systems. Publications and Drafts: https://t.co/VVVkhe6k9G
My research agenda connects three strands: how behaviors shift in dense networks, how firms over-adapt (and misallocate) after disasters in environments of policy and aid uncertainty, and how digital monitoring reshapes resource use. Across these, I study thresholds, adaptation,
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VoxDev Blog on my recent paper: The paper introduces adaptive misallocation—when firms expecting little government aid over-invest in short-term survival at the expense of long-term productivity. Leveraging quasi-experimental variation from the 2005 earthquake, I document how
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I have been reflecting on how best to convey the core intuition of adaptive misallocation. This snapshot of San Francisco’s skyline — tranquil on the surface, yet on one of the world’s most dangerous fault lines — was taken at #ASSA2025, where I shared my paper earlier this
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VoxDev Blog on my recent paper: The paper introduces adaptive misallocation—when firms expecting little government aid over-invest in short-term survival at the expense of long-term productivity. Leveraging quasi-experimental variation from the 2005 earthquake, I document how
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My research agenda connects three strands: how behaviors shift in dense networks, how firms over-adapt (and misallocate) after disasters in environments of policy and aid uncertainty, and how digital monitoring reshapes resource use. Across these, I study thresholds, adaptation,
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I develop a threshold model of adoption where lowering adoption costs and increasing salience of the message drives compliance at high centrality nodes in dense urban networks. In 2021, I tested this framework through a mask experiment in Lahore, showing how small shifts in
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In a second RCT I extend my threshold model of adoption to vaccine uptake in high-density urban networks,. Uptake was free but stalled amid mistrust, misinformation, and logistical barriers. Community mobilisation raised vaccinations at local health units, but intensification
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I formalise adaptive misallocation: when firms expect limited state support, survival-driven reallocations entrench inefficiency. Evidence from Pakistan’s 2005 earthquake shows how these dynamics distort capital allocation and generate persistent production scarring. Link to the
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Together, these projects form a unified research program on thresholds, adaptation, and misallocation across networks, disasters, and digital systems. Looking forward to sharing the new papers furthering this agenda in the coming weeks. (5/5)
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