Arman Rezaee

Arman Rezaee

Assistant Professor of Economics
University of California, Davis

Affiliates: CEGA | IDEAS Pakistan | IGCC | J-PAL

Bio

Dr. Arman Rezaee is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of California, Davis. In developing countries, where information has been historically scarce, the rapid expansion of cellular networks over the past two decades has dramatically increased access to timely, actionable data. His research is motivated by the idea that this sudden shift toward an information-rich environment is fundamentally altering economic and political behavior. Professor Rezaee's research makes use of large-scale field experiments that leverage cellular technology, as well as natural experiments using historical archival data. Before obtaining his Ph.D. in economics from UC San Diego, he earned his Masters in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where he was a Public Policy and International Affairs Fellow.

Publications - Peer-reviewed

Husnain Fateh, Matthew Gibson, Fatiq Nadeem, Sanval Nasim, and Arman Rezaee (2025)
Expectations and Adaptation to Environmental Threats
The Economic Journal
Michael Callen, Saad Gulzar, Syed Ali Hasanain, Yasir Khan, and Arman Rezaee (2025)
Personalities and Public Sector Performance: Experimental Evidence from Pakistan
Economic Development and Cultural Change
Michael Callen, Saad Gulzar, Yasir Khan, Arman Rezaee, and Jacob Shapiro (2024)
Extending the Formal State: The Case of Pakistan's Frontier Crimes Regulation
Economica
Michael Callen, Saad Gulzar, Syed Ali Hasanain, Yasir Khan, and Arman Rezaee (2023)
The Political Economy of Public Sector Absence: Experimental Evidence from Pakistan
Journal of Public Economics
Syed Ali Hasanain, Yasir Khan, and Arman Rezaee (2023)
No bulls: Asymmetric information in the market for artificial insemination in Pakistan
Journal of Development Economics
Agha Ali Raza, Mustafa Naseem, Namoos Hayat Qasmi, Shan Randhawa, Fizzah Malik, Behzad Taimur, Sacha St-Onge Ahmad, Sarojini Hirshleifer, Arman Rezaee, and Aditya Vashistha (2022)
Fostering Engagement of Underserved Communities with Credible Health Information on Social Media
The Web Conference (WWW 2022)
Michael Callen, Saad Gulzar, Ali Hasnain, Yasir Khan, and Arman Rezaee (2020)
Data and Policy Decisions: Experimental Evidence from Pakistan
Journal of Development Economics
Michael Callen, Saad Gulzar, and Arman Rezaee (2020)
Can Political Alignment be Costly?
Journal of Politics
Niall Keleher, Mary Claire Barela, Joshua Blumenstock, Cedric Festin, Matthew Podolsky, Arman Rezaee, Erin Troland, and Kurtis Heimerl (2020)
Connecting Isolated Communities: Quantitative Evidence on the Adoption of Community Cellular Networks in the Philippines
Proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development
Eli Berman, Michael Callen, Clark Gibson, James D. Long, and Arman Rezaee (2019)
Election Fairness and Government Legitimacy in Afghanistan
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization

Publications - Books & Book Chapters

Madon T., Anderson R.J., Casaburi L., Lee K., Rezaee A., Gadgil A.J. (Eds.) (2023)
An Introduction to Development Engineering: A Framework with Applications from the Field
Springer
Eskici, B., Long, J., Nair, A., Rezaee, A. (2023)
Digital Governance
In "An Introduction to Development Engineering" - Springer

Working Papers

Sarojini Hirshleifer, Mustafa Naseem, Agha Ali Raza, and Arman Rezaee
The spread of (mis)information: A social media experiment in Pakistan
Under review
Isra Imtiaz, Shotaro Nakamura, Sanval Nasim, and Arman Rezaee
Beliefs, Signal Quality, and Information Sources: Experimental Evidence on Air Quality in Pakistan
Under review

Research in Progress

Joshua Blumenstock, Niall Keleher, Arman Rezaee, and Erin Troland
The Impact of Mobile Phones: Experimental Evidence from the Random Assignment of New Cell Towers
Working paper coming soon
Isaac Ahimbisibwe, Andy Brownback, Sarojini Hirshleifer, and Arman Rezaee
Beliefs and the Demand for Employee Training: A Field Experiment with Small Firms in Uganda
Working paper coming soon | Upcoming presentations: 3 June 2025, UC Davis Development Workshop, 24 June 2025, 2025 Africa Evidence Summit
A. Patrick Behrer, Teevrat Garg, Raymond Guiteras, and Arman Rezaee
Willingness to Pay for Air Purifiers in Classrooms in Lahore
Funding from J-Pal Learning for All Initiative and the World Bank
Shotaro Nakamura, Sanval Nasim, Arman Rezaee, and Farah Said
A Smog Alert System for Lahore
Funding from the International Growth Centre