Dalia Ghanem
Dalia Ghanem is Associate Professor (with tenure) at the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California, Davis. Previously she was Assistant Professor at the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California. She is co-editor of the Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists. Dalia holds a Ph. D. in Economics from the University of California, San Diego.
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Follow Dalia on
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Dalia Ghanem is Associate Professor (with tenure) at the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California, Davis. Previously she was Assistant Professor at the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California. She is co-editor of the Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists. Dalia holds a Ph. D. in Economics from the University of California, San Diego.
In their own words…
IEA – Can you tell us a little bit about your life story and how you got interested in economics and decided to pursue an academic career?
Dalia – I majored in economics and political science at the American University in Cairo (but I am born-and-raised Alexandrian through and through). My plan towards the end of my undergraduate was to pursue human rights law. A course in econometrics during the last year in college would however change my career plans completely. I simply fell in love with this field that combined mathematical rigor with real-world policy relevance. After this course, I dreamt of a career in econometrics research, which I knew would take me away from Egypt permanently. Since it was a big decision for me to leave my home country right after completing my undergraduate degree, I thought it would be safer to first work in Cairo for a few years to get a taste of a “real-world” job and see if I might like some of the job opportunities Cairo offers. As you might expect, my dream to become an econometrician never faded and I decided to pursue an M.S. in econometrics at LSE based on excellent advice from one of my mentors. This was crucial for me to get into a Ph.D. program in economics in the U.S., since my undergraduate institution had not placed many students in such programs in recent years. I only applied to six Ph.D. programs (which was far too few), but I am fortunate that UC San Diego took a chance on me as their first Egyptian Ph.D. student.
IEA – Much of your research is in the intersection of environmental economics and econometric theory. Can you tell us a bit about your contributions in this broad area?
Dalia – My primary research interests lie in causal inference using observational panel data. As a researcher, I get much more excited when the motivation for my work comes from real-world empirical and policy questions I care about. Causal inference questions in environmental economics are therefore a source of inspiration for my research.
Panel data methods and difference-in-difference methods are widely used in program evaluation in environmental economics. In current work, my coauthors and I examine the role of selection into treatment in parallel trends assumptions. Our theoretical analysis demonstrates the role of restrictions on selection mechanisms (such as the information sets available to agents when selecting into treatment) in determining what is necessary to justify parallel trends in a given application. I am also working with coauthors to develop methods to identify counterfactual distributions in the presence of bunching and other data irregularities in order to quantify the impact of regulatory policies on welfare. In previous work, my coauthors and I propose methods for quantifying threshold manipulation in environmental data, such as air pollution in China as well as lead concentrations in U.S. drinking water.
In the context of assessing climate, weather and pollution impact studies, mixed- and high-frequency panel data are widely available. These rich datasets allow researchers to answer important policy-relevant questions, but they also raise many interesting and empirically relevant methodological questions. For instance, in climate change impact studies, my coauthors and I have investigated the suitability of existing criteria to select between different models for the policy objective of climate projections and propose more suitable criteria that account for the climate scenario in question. In other work, my coauthor and I provide guidance to practitioners using high-frequency panel data, such as in energy economics, regarding various modeling considerations these datasets offer, such as accounting for response heterogeneity along multiple dimensions and controlling for unobserved confounders.
IEA – Women researchers, especially from developing countries, sometimes face serious obstacles in accessing research networks at the frontier of economics. Would you have some advice for younger scholars?
Dalia – I would first like to express gratitude to the core group of advisors and mentors that were there for me in the best and worst of times. But it did take me some time to broaden my network beyond this core group. I am now fortunate to have wonderful coauthors, friends and senior members of the profession who have been generous with their advice and support. I also recognize that many, not just women, face obstacles in accessing these networks for a variety of reasons, and it is wonderful to see many professional organizations creating various mentoring programs to help level the playing field.
In the following, I will try to provide some advice based on my own experience:
- Acknowledge that “networking” is important for a young researcher’s success and is actually enjoyable: Perhaps the biggest obstacle I faced was not realizing the importance of networking early on in my career. One thing I learned with the benefit of hindsight is that during the PhD those who evaluate you (your PhD advisors) directly observe your effort and contributions, whereas on the tenure clock and beyond one’s evaluators do not. As a result, it is important for senior members of your field, especially potential tenure letter writers, to see you present your research or at least have a discussion with you about it. I know this may be too obvious to many, but it was not obvious to me early on (I am embarrassed to say so). Another obstacle for me is that I hated the idea of “networking” because it sounded to me like disingenuous socializing. I would go to conferences to attend sessions without meeting hardly anyone new. It took me a while to get comfortable in my own skin and to realize that “networking” is all about meeting fellow researchers that may have shared interests. I now enjoy going to conferences and the “networking” part tremendously. I totally appreciate that this is not how many young researchers feel about it. So here is some concrete advice:
- present crisply and clearly, one cannot overestimate the impact of a high-quality presentation on how a researcher is perceived, so do not skimp on the presentation prep, a good presentation will generate more questions and discussion with others;
- diversify your portfolio of conferences, do not only go to big conferences, while they are great in terms of the variety of sessions they offer, it can be hard to socialize in those conference relative to smaller ones;
- organize a happy or coffee hour for folks in your field, it is a casual and low-stress way to meet peers and senior members of your field, especially for big conferences;
- if you are interested in meeting another researcher, go to their presentation, introduce yourself afterwards and have one or two good questions/comments prepared;
- if it did not work out for you to meet someone you were interested in meeting, reach out by email; while they may not respond, there is a chance they reply or even offer to have a zoom chat;
- if there are extended periods where you cannot travel due to family or health reasons, social media, especially Twitter, can be a good way to stay connected to the profession, ongoing research and advice on various issues, it can also be a way to connect with other researchers.
- Apply to mentoring programs as early as possible: Young researchers from underrepresented groups in economics today are fortunate to have a variety of mentoring programs organized by different professional organizations. I have participated in the CEMENT workshop myself, which was a real eye-opener for me. I just wished I applied earlier on in my tenure clock. The earlier a young researcher participates in these programs, the earlier they become informed about various aspects of the hidden curriculum and can make more informed decisions about their research and career. In addition, these mentoring programs can be an excellent opportunity to expand your network, both in terms of finding potential senior mentors and meeting peers that could be your friends.
- Learn the lesson from every rejection or setback: Even if we do everything right, rejections and negative feedback are simply common in our profession. Connecting with friends or peers in the profession is important to normalize these rejections and feel supported during those times. Senior colleagues and mentors are also crucial to develop a concrete plan of action. It is important not to be shy to reach out in those situations and ask for advice and support. Even more important is to learn from every negative experience and apply the lessons learned moving forward.