Economics Ph.D. candidate

Adrian Amaya

aamaya2[at]hawaii.edu

CV

I am currently on the 2024-2025 job market! My research has explored the intersections between environmental change and societal outcomes with a focus on understanding the implications for public health and policy. I enjoy generating valuable insights from unique datasets, leveraging my academic training and proficiency in statistical programming languages like Stata and R.

Working Papers

Medicaid Enrollment Responses to Wildfire Pollution

Medicaid Enrollment Responses to Wildfire Pollution

Adrian Amaya (2025)

Job Market Paper

In this paper, I highlight Medicaid's role in helping vulnerable people mitigate the health damages associated with increases in air pollution. I use random changes in air pollution caused by wildfires to isolate the effect on health insurance enrollment. I use mortality rates to investigate how the Medicaid expansion mitigated the mortality effects of wildfire pollution.

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Satellite Imagery Reveals Differing Pathways to Adaptation

Satellite Imagery Reveals Differing Pathways to Adaptation to a Global Shock

Amaya, A., Lynham, J., De Leo, G. A., & VillaseƱor-Derbez, J. C. (2025)

In this paper, we use satellite images of nighttime lights to measure changes in brightness over time in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We broadly categorized countries into one of four adaptation pathways based on the severity of the initial response and the speed of recovery.

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Informal Artisanal Small-Scale Mining and Malaria

Informal Artisanal Small-Scale Mining (Galamsey) and Malaria: Impacts on Children Under-5 in Ghana

Amaya, A., & Eshun, J. (2025)

In this paper, we estimate the causal relationship between mining activity and malaria incidence among children under five years old in Ghana, a country with high malaria prevalence and significant mining activity.

Available upon request.