Maha Rehman
@maharehman.bsky.social
I build and test models of how production networks and economies adapt under risk and uncertainty | Applied Economics PhD @Cornell | Formerly @DukeEcon
maharehman.github.io
maharehman.github.io
Pinned
Maha Rehman
@maharehman.bsky.social
· Sep 25
My research agenda connects three strands: how behaviors shift in dense networks, how firms over-adapt (and misallocate) after disasters in an environment of limited state support, and how digital monitoring reshapes resource use. Across these, I study thresholds, adaptation, and misallocation.
These results gain importance as crises become more frequent and damaging, increasing the marginal utility of my framework for understanding adaptation in thin-institution contexts.
October 10, 2025 at 10:31 PM
These results gain importance as crises become more frequent and damaging, increasing the marginal utility of my framework for understanding adaptation in thin-institution contexts.
They formalise how collective behaviour equilibria can be shifted temporarily or durably by manipulating costs and observability, offering general principles for rapid norm change in urban environments.
October 10, 2025 at 10:31 PM
They formalise how collective behaviour equilibria can be shifted temporarily or durably by manipulating costs and observability, offering general principles for rapid norm change in urban environments.
Empirically, the results confirm the model’s comparative statics and extend theory to non-spatial urban networks, where compliance is mediated not by geography but by visibility, attention, and network salience.
October 10, 2025 at 10:31 PM
Empirically, the results confirm the model’s comparative statics and extend theory to non-spatial urban networks, where compliance is mediated not by geography but by visibility, attention, and network salience.
This is the first paper to use an electricity distribution company’s data and infrastructure to randomise at the sub-division level in Lahore and link electricity utility billing records to treatment roll-out -leveraging administrative systems as a delivery mechanism for behavioural change.
October 10, 2025 at 10:31 PM
This is the first paper to use an electricity distribution company’s data and infrastructure to randomise at the sub-division level in Lahore and link electricity utility billing records to treatment roll-out -leveraging administrative systems as a delivery mechanism for behavioural change.
My Lahore masks RCT increased proper mask use at a fraction of comparable rural interventions, illustrating economies of scale in dense networks.
October 10, 2025 at 10:31 PM
My Lahore masks RCT increased proper mask use at a fraction of comparable rural interventions, illustrating economies of scale in dense networks.
In 2021, I tested a threshold model of behavioural adoption through a randomised experiment across Lahore. 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.
October 10, 2025 at 10:31 PM
In 2021, I tested a threshold model of behavioural adoption through a randomised experiment across Lahore. 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.
With increasing frequency and intensity of health and environmental crises, it is essential to understand how social equilibria form as a response to crisis and how can they be shifted in developing countries where institutions are thin but networks are dense.
Building on that foundation, my 2021 Lahore experiment develops a threshold model of adoption and tests how salience and cohesion shape equilibrium compliance in dense urban networks. (2/6)
October 10, 2025 at 10:31 PM
With increasing frequency and intensity of health and environmental crises, it is essential to understand how social equilibria form as a response to crisis and how can they be shifted in developing countries where institutions are thin but networks are dense.
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.
September 25, 2025 at 10:09 AM
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.
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.
September 25, 2025 at 10:09 AM
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.
In a second RCT I extend my threshold model of adoption to vaccine uptake in high-density urban networks,. Uptake was free but stalled. Community mobilisation raised vaccinations at local health units, but intensification yielded no further gains. Time-stamped links on OSF.
September 25, 2025 at 10:09 AM
In a second RCT I extend my threshold model of adoption to vaccine uptake in high-density urban networks,. Uptake was free but stalled. Community mobilisation raised vaccinations at local health units, but intensification yielded no further gains. Time-stamped links on OSF.
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. Time-Stamped: Drafts & protocols: osf.io/bckja/
OSF | Maha Rehman
Hosted on the Open Science Framework
osf.io
September 25, 2025 at 10:09 AM
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. Time-Stamped: Drafts & protocols: osf.io/bckja/
My research agenda connects three strands: how behaviors shift in dense networks, how firms over-adapt (and misallocate) after disasters in an environment of limited state support, and how digital monitoring reshapes resource use. Across these, I study thresholds, adaptation, and misallocation.
September 25, 2025 at 10:09 AM
My research agenda connects three strands: how behaviors shift in dense networks, how firms over-adapt (and misallocate) after disasters in an environment of limited state support, and how digital monitoring reshapes resource use. Across these, I study thresholds, adaptation, and misallocation.
Together, these two RCTs advance my broader agenda: mapping how dense urban networks mediate collective behavior. They complement my current work on adaptation under weak state credibility.
Drafts, protocols, and acknowledgements will be made public on OSF upon publication.
osf.io/bckja/
Drafts, protocols, and acknowledgements will be made public on OSF upon publication.
osf.io/bckja/
OSF | Maha Rehman
Hosted on the Open Science Framework
osf.io
September 25, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Together, these two RCTs advance my broader agenda: mapping how dense urban networks mediate collective behavior. They complement my current work on adaptation under weak state credibility.
Drafts, protocols, and acknowledgements will be made public on OSF upon publication.
osf.io/bckja/
Drafts, protocols, and acknowledgements will be made public on OSF upon publication.
osf.io/bckja/
Reposted by Maha Rehman
Building on that foundation, my 2021 Lahore experiment develops a threshold model of adoption and tests how salience and cohesion shape equilibrium compliance in dense urban networks. (2/6)
September 19, 2025 at 7:13 AM
Building on that foundation, my 2021 Lahore experiment develops a threshold model of adoption and tests how salience and cohesion shape equilibrium compliance in dense urban networks. (2/6)
In between self imposed deadlines, it helps to look up — even briefly — and take in the horizon.
Missed AFE for another year in a row, but the calendar’s already marked for next.
In photo: McGraw Tower from Olin Library, Cornell Campus, Taken yesterday.
Missed AFE for another year in a row, but the calendar’s already marked for next.
In photo: McGraw Tower from Olin Library, Cornell Campus, Taken yesterday.
September 20, 2025 at 1:58 PM
In between self imposed deadlines, it helps to look up — even briefly — and take in the horizon.
Missed AFE for another year in a row, but the calendar’s already marked for next.
In photo: McGraw Tower from Olin Library, Cornell Campus, Taken yesterday.
Missed AFE for another year in a row, but the calendar’s already marked for next.
In photo: McGraw Tower from Olin Library, Cornell Campus, Taken yesterday.
A second RCT turned to vaccines. Uptake was free but stalled amid mistrust, misinformation, and logistical barriers. Community mobilisation raised vaccinations at local health units, but intensification yielded no further gains and the value of adaptive engagement. (5/6)
September 19, 2025 at 7:13 AM
A second RCT turned to vaccines. Uptake was free but stalled amid mistrust, misinformation, and logistical barriers. Community mobilisation raised vaccinations at local health units, but intensification yielded no further gains and the value of adaptive engagement. (5/6)
The intervention confirmed the intuition: distributing free masks and reinforcing salience at mosques and markets increased proper use, with gains strongest in cohesive neighborhoods. Marginal cost per additional adopter was very low, showing economies of scale.
(4/6)
(4/6)
September 19, 2025 at 7:13 AM
The intervention confirmed the intuition: distributing free masks and reinforcing salience at mosques and markets increased proper use, with gains strongest in cohesive neighborhoods. Marginal cost per additional adopter was very low, showing economies of scale.
(4/6)
(4/6)
The project develops a threshold framework where both private incentives and network effects matter. In a metropolis of 15 million, we tested whether reducing costs and reinforcing salience at central public nodes could shift collective behavior.
(3/6)
(3/6)
September 19, 2025 at 7:13 AM
The project develops a threshold framework where both private incentives and network effects matter. In a metropolis of 15 million, we tested whether reducing costs and reinforcing salience at central public nodes could shift collective behavior.
(3/6)
(3/6)
Building on that foundation, my 2021 Lahore experiment develops a threshold model of adoption and tests how salience and cohesion shape equilibrium compliance in dense urban networks. (2/6)
September 19, 2025 at 7:13 AM
Building on that foundation, my 2021 Lahore experiment develops a threshold model of adoption and tests how salience and cohesion shape equilibrium compliance in dense urban networks. (2/6)
The landmark Bangladesh mask RCT (Abaluck et al.) showed the power of behavioral interventions at scale and shaped global thinking on pandemic response.
(1/6)
(1/6)
September 19, 2025 at 7:13 AM
The landmark Bangladesh mask RCT (Abaluck et al.) showed the power of behavioral interventions at scale and shaped global thinking on pandemic response.
(1/6)
(1/6)
Link to the Twitter thread: x.com/MahaRehman1/...
Link to published paper, ungated version, and blog: maharehman.github.io/research/
Link to published paper, ungated version, and blog: maharehman.github.io/research/
x.com
September 1, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Link to the Twitter thread: x.com/MahaRehman1/...
Link to published paper, ungated version, and blog: maharehman.github.io/research/
Link to published paper, ungated version, and blog: maharehman.github.io/research/
Disasters reshape more than assets—they reshape firm–state relations.
My new VoxDev Blog shows how firms in Pakistan’s 2005 earthquake adapted not only to physical damage but also to the then weak state credibility, creating inefficiencies I term adaptive misallocation.
x.com/MahaRehman1/...
My new VoxDev Blog shows how firms in Pakistan’s 2005 earthquake adapted not only to physical damage but also to the then weak state credibility, creating inefficiencies I term adaptive misallocation.
x.com/MahaRehman1/...
September 1, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Disasters reshape more than assets—they reshape firm–state relations.
My new VoxDev Blog shows how firms in Pakistan’s 2005 earthquake adapted not only to physical damage but also to the then weak state credibility, creating inefficiencies I term adaptive misallocation.
x.com/MahaRehman1/...
My new VoxDev Blog shows how firms in Pakistan’s 2005 earthquake adapted not only to physical damage but also to the then weak state credibility, creating inefficiencies I term adaptive misallocation.
x.com/MahaRehman1/...
VoxDev Blog on my recent paper, which introduces the concept of adaptive misallocation: when firms expecting little government aid over-invest in survival at the expense of productivity. Evidence reveals a new class of firms: fragile intermediaries—that are especially vulnerable.
September 1, 2025 at 8:31 AM
VoxDev Blog on my recent paper, which introduces the concept of adaptive misallocation: when firms expecting little government aid over-invest in survival at the expense of productivity. Evidence reveals a new class of firms: fragile intermediaries—that are especially vulnerable.
VoxDev Blog on my recent paper: Adaptive misallocation when firms expecting little government aid over-invest in survival at the cost of long-run productivity. Evidence from the 2005 earthquake shows a new class of vulnerable firms: fragile intermediaries.
Links: maharehman.github.io/research/
Links: maharehman.github.io/research/
September 1, 2025 at 7:28 AM
VoxDev Blog on my recent paper: Adaptive misallocation when firms expecting little government aid over-invest in survival at the cost of long-run productivity. Evidence from the 2005 earthquake shows a new class of vulnerable firms: fragile intermediaries.
Links: maharehman.github.io/research/
Links: maharehman.github.io/research/
I am very happy to share a new labour of love: my new website which is now live:
maharehman.github.io
Feedback welcome! Keeping it simple for clarity.
maharehman.github.io
Feedback welcome! Keeping it simple for clarity.
Home | Maha Rehman
maharehman.github.io
April 23, 2025 at 9:31 PM
I am very happy to share a new labour of love: my new website which is now live:
maharehman.github.io
Feedback welcome! Keeping it simple for clarity.
maharehman.github.io
Feedback welcome! Keeping it simple for clarity.