Max Harleman - Research

Abandoned Coal Mines and Water Pollution

Research in Progress: “Can Improved Waterway Quality Enhance Economic Resilience in Coal Communities?” with Jeremy G. Weber, Katie Jo Black, and Shawn McCoy.
“Reversing Signals of Neglect: Legacy Pollution, Adaptive Governance, and Resilience in Historic Coal Communities” with Jeremy G. Weber, Aidan Semanco, Katie Jo Black, and Shawn McCoy. 2026. Global Environmental Change.
“Can Collective Action Institutions Outperform the State?” with Jeremy Weber. 2025. Policy Studies Journal.

Oil and Gas Drilling

“Negotiations of Oil and Gas Auxiliary Lease Clauses: Evidence from Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale,” with Pramod Manohar and Elaine Hill. 2025. Resource and Energy Economics.
“Impact of Boom-and-Bust Economies from Oil and Gas Development on Psychiatric Hospitalizations among Medicaid Beneficiaries” with Mary Willis, Nina Cesare, Amruta Nori-Sarma, and others. 2025. Environmental Research: Health.
“Environmental Hazards and Local Investment: A Half-Century of Evidence from Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells,” with Jeremy G. Weber and Daniel Berkowitz. 2022. Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists. An early version is available as USAEE Working Paper No. 20-470.
“Compensating Communities for Industrial Disamenities: The Case of Shale Gas Development,” 2021. Economic Inquiry.
“Covering Cleanup Costs: An Economic and Policy Analysis of Shale Gas Well Bonding,” Chapter in When Fracking Comes to Town, edited by Sabina Deitrick and Ilia Murtazashvili. 2021. Cornell University Press. [Available as USAEE Working Paper No. 18-359: A Cost Benefit Analysis of Shale Gas Well Bonding Systems in Pennsylvania. 2018.]
“Natural resource ownership, financial gains, and governance: The case of unconventional gas development in the UK and the US,” with Jeremy G. Weber. 2017. Energy Policy.

Highway Infrastructure and Air Pollution

“Changes in Traffic-Related Air Pollution Exposures and Associations with Adverse Birth Outcomes Over 20 Years in Texas” with Mary Willis, Perry Hystad, Elaine Hill, and others. 2025. International Journal of Epidemiology.
“Limited Impact of Roadway Construction and Traffic Congestion on Nearby Housing Prices.” with Lena Harris, Mary Willis, Elaine Hill, and Perry Hystad. 2024. Transport Policy.
“Roadway Construction as a Natural Experiment to Examine Air Pollution Impacts on Infant Health,” with Elaine Hill, Perry Hystad, Lena Harris, Grace Sventek, Beate Ritz, Erin J. Campbell, and Mary Willis. 2024. Environmental Research.
“Changes in Traffic Congestion and Air Pollution Due to Major Roadway Infrastructure Improvements in Texas,” with Lena Harris, Mary D. Willis, Elaine L. Hill, Beate Ritz, and Perry Hystad. 2023. Science of the Total Environment.
“Changes in Socioeconomic Disparities for Traffic-Related Air pollution Exposure During Pregnancy Over a 20-year Period in Texas,” with Mary D. Willis, Elaine L. Hill, Collette Ncube, Erin Campbell, Lena Harris, Beate Ritz, and Perry Hystad. 2023. JAMA Network Open.
“A population-based cohort study of electronic tolling, traffic congestion, and adverse birth outcomes,” with Mary D. Willis, Elaine L. Hill, Mira Chaskes, Erin Campbell, Ethan Sawyer, Lena Harris, Beate Ritz, and Perry Hystad. 2023. Environment International.