Skip to main content

Yichun Fan

Assistant Professor of Climate Economics in Environmental Social Systems
Environmental Social Systems
4101 Grainger Hall, Durham, NC 27710
4101 Grainger Hall, Durham, NC 27710

Overview


Yichun Fan is an applied economist specializing in Environmental and Urban Economics. Fan's research focuses on urban resilience to environmental risks. Her recent work integrates applied economics with new data and data science technologies to understand how adaptations of people and places shape the economic and distributional impacts of climate change. 

Current Appointments & Affiliations


Assistant Professor of Climate Economics in Environmental Social Systems · 2025 - Present Environmental Social Systems, Nicholas School of the Environment

Recent Publications


Unequal impacts of rising temperatures on global human sentiment

Journal Article One Earth · October 17, 2025 Climate change poses growing risks to human well-being, yet research on its emotional impact has primarily focused on developed nations, obscuring potential global inequalities in psychological vulnerability. Here, we analyze over 1.2 billion social media ... Full text Cite

Social cost of lifestyle adaptation: Air pollution and outdoor physical exercise

Journal Article Journal of Environmental Economics and Management · September 1, 2024 The social cost of environmental hazards depends on the well-being impacts of both exposure and adaptation. While the monetary expenditure of adaptation is increasingly considered, little research assesses the social cost associated with non-market lifesty ... Full text Cite

Intraday adaptation to extreme temperatures in outdoor activity.

Journal Article Scientific reports · January 2023 Linkages between climate and human activity are often calibrated at daily or monthly resolutions, which lacks the granularity to observe intraday adaptation behaviors. Ignoring this adaptation margin could mischaracterize the health consequences of future ... Full text Cite
View All Publications

Education, Training & Certifications


Massachusetts Institute of Technology · 2025 Ph.D.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology · 2020 M.U.P.