Tauhidur Rahman

Interests

Research

Development Economics, Behavioral Economics, Law and Economics, Climate-Resilient Development.

Teaching

Development Economics, Statistics, Econometrics, Environmental Law and Economics, Experimental/Behavioral Economics

Courses

Scholarly Contributions

Books

• Cory, D. C., & Rahman, T. (2012). Environmental justice and federalism. Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.. doi:10.4337/9781781001400
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  The environmental justice movement promotes the fair and non-discriminatory treatment of all people with respect to environmental issues, policies, and regulations. This fascinating and timely volume explores the relationship between environmental justice and the government, offering a comprehensive introduction to the legal, economic, and philosophical concerns involved in pursuing environmental justice goals within a federalist system. The authors discuss two case studies in their investigation of the complex interactions between environmental justice and government, offering a comprehensive view of both the siting and regulation of polluting activities. © Dennis C. Cory and Tauhidur Rahman 2012. All rights reserved.

Chapters

• Abidoye, B., Karuaihe, S. T., & Rahman, T. (2024). The origin and progress of the Sustainable Development Goals. In Achieving Zero Hunger in India-Challenges and Policies. Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.

Journals/Publications

• Liu, X., Rahman, T., & Wang, X. (2024). The effect of urban air pollution on small businesses: Evidence from Beijing. Energy Economics, 139(Issue). doi:10.1016/j.eneco.2024.107863
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  The social cost of pollution avoidance behavior has received less attention than the health impact of air pollution. We attempt to shed light on the effect of a particular pollution avoidance behavior, reducing outdoor activities, on small businesses that rely on the customers visiting their premises. We employ an instrumental variable strategy to estimate the causal effect of air pollution on business performance of ninety-six restaurants from three groups of chain restaurants located in Beijing that have similar characteristics but experience varying levels of air pollution due to their different location. We show that air pollution has an adverse effect on business performance of restaurants, especially on weekends when most people can choose to stay indoors to avoid air pollution since they do not have work or school related obligations. In contrast, the adverse effect on weekdays, when the opportunity cost of not meeting work and school related obligations is high, is relatively weaker and less robust.
• Ambade, P., Gerald, J., & Rahman, T. (2023). Wealth Status and Health Insurance Enrollment in India: An Empirical Analysis. Healthcare (Switzerland), 11(9). doi:10.3390/healthcare11091343
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  Since 2005, health insurance (HI) coverage in India has significantly increased, largely because of the introduction of government-funded pro-poor insurance programs. As a result, the determinants of HI enrollment and their relative importance may have changed. Using National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-4 data, collected in 2015–2016, and employing a Probit regression model, we re-examine the determinants of household HI enrollment. Then, using a multinomial logistic regression model, we estimate the relative risk ratio for enrollment in different HI schemes. In comparison to the results on the determinants of HI enrollment using the NFHS data collected in 2005–2006, we find a decrease in the wealth gap in public HI enrollment. Nonetheless, disparities in enrollment remain, with some changes in those patterns. Households with low assets have lower enrollments in private and community-based health insurance (CBHI) programs. Households with a higher number of dependents have a higher likelihood of HI enrollment, especially in rural areas. In rural areas, poor Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe households are more likely to be enrolled in public HI than the general Caste households. In urban areas, Muslim households have a lower likelihood of enrollment in any HI. The educational attainment of household heads is positively associated with enrollment in private HI, but it is negatively associated with enrollment in public HI. Since 2005–2006, while HI coverage has improved, disparities across social groups remain.
• Ambade, P., Pakhale, S., & Rahman, T. (2023). Explaining Caste-Based Disparities in Enrollment for National Health Insurance Program in India: a Decomposition Analysis. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, 10(4). doi:10.1007/s40615-022-01374-8
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  Background: Caste plays a significant role in individual healthcare access and health outcomes in India. Discrimination against low-caste communities contributes to their poverty and poor health outcomes. The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), a national health insurance program, was created to improve healthcare access for the poor. This study accounts for caste-based disparities in RSBY enrollment in India by decomposing the contributions of relevant factors. Methods: Using the data from the 2015–2016 round of the National Family Health Survey, we compare RSBY enrollment rates of low-caste and high-caste households. We use a non-linear extension of Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition and estimate two models by pooling coefficients across the comparison groups and all caste groups. Enrollment differentials are decomposed into individual- and household-level characteristics, media access, and state-level fixed effects, allowing 2000 replications and random ordering of variables. Results: The analysis of 480,766 households show that scheduled tribe households have the highest enrollment (18.85%), followed by 14.13% for scheduled caste, 10.67% for other backward caste, and 9.33% for high caste. Household factors, family head’s characteristics, media access, and state-level fixed effects account for a 32% to 52% gap in enrollment. More specifically, the enrollment gaps are attributable to differences in wealth status, educational attainment, residence, family size, dependency ratio, media access, and occupational activities of the households. Conclusions: Weaker socio-economic status of low-caste households explains their high RSBY enrollments.
• Rahman, T. (2023). POVERTY, AGENCY, and DEVELOPMENT. Social Philosophy and Policy, 40(1). doi:10.1017/s0265052523000353
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  This essay provides an account of four interrelated ideas. First, a person who is not poor by the standard conception of poverty can still be functionally poor. Second, poverty is a relationship between the poor and their environment (community, local markets, and local institutions). Third, poverty is a determinant of agency and impedes its exercise. Fourth, promoting agency promotes development. I conclude that agency is central to understanding both poverty and development.
• Dayal, V., Murugesan, A., & Rahman, T. (2022). Drain on your health : Sanitation externalities from dirty drains in India. Review of Development Economics, 26(4), 2251-2273. doi:10.1111/rode.12924
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  We highlight an overlooked channel of disease transmission in developing countries: dirty drains. We make the case that sanitation efforts should move to improve the condition of drains to build on increased toilet provision since they are a key transmission channel for waterborne diseases. We develop an economic model of sanitation externalities that incorporates the role of drains and then empirically examine the relationship between the sanitary quality of neighborhood drains and household ill-health incidence using a primary survey of 1,530 households from rural Uttarakhand, India. We find a strong and positive association between household ill-health incidence and dirty neighborhood drains, controlling for household toilet usage, community-level toilet availability, and an array of other household attributes. We employ a variety of robustness checks to validate our findings. Our findings suggest that bringing the policy focus to overall sanitation infrastructure will have substantial health returns.
• Rahman, T., & Thapa, B. (2020). Multi-level determinants of crop choice to water stress in smallholder irrigation system of Central Nepal. Climate and Development, 13(7), 581-592. doi:10.1080/17565529.2020.1840962
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  Change in crop choice is a common adaptation strategy for global change. However, its drivers are not well understood. We investigate the multilevel determinants of smallholders’ crop choice in irrigated agriculture of Central Nepal. We build upon previous studies and consider four levels of determinants: households, irrigation systems, local and regional market systems, and climatic conditions. Using primary survey data of 316 farmers from 9 farmer-managed irrigation systems in the Trishuli-Narayani sub-basin of Central Nepal, among other results, we document that smallholder farmers are likely to choose rice during the monsoon season if they are experienced and farm in the irrigation systems fed by large rivers. Water stress affects the crop choice mainly in two ways. In irrigation systems fed by large rivers, farmers located towards the tail-end of the canal are less likely to plant rice due to water stress. Farmers living in the irrigation systems that are fed by small and medium-size rivers are more likely to choose less water-demanding crops. Market integration is also a key determinant of crop choice. We discuss the implications of our findings for climate-resilient adaptation strategies in Central Nepal.
• Rahman, T., Mittelhammer, R., & Wandschneider, P. (2011). Measuring Quality of Life across Countries: A Multiple Indicators and Multiple Causes Approach. Journal of Socio-Economics, 40(1), 43-52.
• Rashid, D. A., Smith, L. C., & Rahman, T. (2011). Determinants of dietary quality: Evidence from Bangladesh. World Development, 39(12), 2221-2231.
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  Abstract: Whereas a large number of studies have been devoted to analyzing consumer demand for dietary quantity, much less attention has been paid to the demand for dietary quality. To address this gap in the literature, this paper explores the determinants of dietary quality in Bangladesh using data from a nationally representative household expenditure survey conducted in 2000. We find that while male education plays a positive role, female education has a substantially stronger influence. Further, female household headship is associated with lower dietary quality than male headship. Thus, promoting female education and addressing the unique constraints faced by female headed households with respect to diet quality could be a significant policy instrument for addressing food insecurity in Bangladesh. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.
• Rahman, T. -., Tauhidur, R., Mini, K. M., Medgal, S., Aradhyula, S., & Moxley, J. (2010). Determinants of Environmental Noncompliance by Public Water Systems. Contemporary Economic Policy, 28(2), 264-274.
• Rahman, T. -., Dennis, C., & Tauhidur, R. (2009). Environmental Justice and Enforcement of Safe Drinking Water Act: The Arizona Arsenic Experience. Ecological Economics, 68, 1825-1837.
• Rahman, T. -., & Tauhidur, R. (2008). Determinants of Public Health Expenditure: Some Evidence from Indian States. Applied Economics Letters, 15, 853-857.
• Rahman, T. -., & Tauhidur, R. (2007). Measuring the Quality of Life across Countries. Applied Economics Letters, 14, 779-783.
• Rahman, T. -., Tauhidur, R., Mittelhammer, R., & Wandschneider, P. (2005). Measuring the Quality of Life across Countries: A Sensitivity Analysis of Well-being Indices. UN-WIDER Research Paper, 2005/06.
• Rahman, T. -., Chaudhri, D., Nagar, A., Tauhidur, R., & Wilson, E. (2003).

  Determinants of Child Labor in Indian States: Some Empirical Explorations (1961-1991)

  . Journal of Quantitative Economics, 1(1), 1-19.