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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
The Effect Of Natural Disasters On Housing Prices: An Examination Of The Fourmile Canyon Fire, Katherine A. Kiel, Victor Matheson
The Effect Of Natural Disasters On Housing Prices: An Examination Of The Fourmile Canyon Fire, Katherine A. Kiel, Victor Matheson
Economics Department Working Papers
In September 2010, the Fourmile-Lefthand Canyon forest fire burned 6,181 acres, destroyed 169 homes, and caused $217 million in property damages making it by far the most expensive fire in Colorado history at the time. This paper examines how the fire affected housing prices in vulnerable neighboring areas that were not directly impacted by the fire, controlling for the property’s level of risk. This damaging fire may have increased home owners’ perceptions about the risk of living in forested areas subject to wildfires to a significant degree adding to the total direct economic losses from the fire. Utilizing a unique …
The Impact Of Wetlands Rules On The Prices Of Regulated And Proximate Houses: A Case Study, Katherine Kiel
The Impact Of Wetlands Rules On The Prices Of Regulated And Proximate Houses: A Case Study, Katherine Kiel
Economics Department Working Papers
Federal, state and local wetlands protection laws that restrict landowners’ ability to develop their properties in certain ways could decrease the value of the affected properties. However, the regulations could also give benefits to nearby neighbors who no longer need worry about increased development in their area. Given that some properties may decline in value, while others increase, the impact on individual properties must be determined empirically. This study uses a data set from Newton, Massachusetts to examine the impact of wetlands laws on the regulated properties, as well as on proximate properties. Looking at house sales data from 1988 …
Environmental Contamination And House Values: A Study Of Market Adjustment, Katherine Kiel
Environmental Contamination And House Values: A Study Of Market Adjustment, Katherine Kiel
Economics Department Working Papers
In many communities throughout the United States, contaminated sites are identified and addressed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In each of these communities, the EPA presents a plan of action and provides the community with information about progress being made. Does the housing market adjust quickly after announcements by EPA concerning the existence and toxicity of Superfund sites? Other studies have shown that the levels of house prices fall when people suspect there is a problem, and again when the EPA announces that the site is toxic (e.g. Kiel, 1995), but how can we tell when or if the …
Environmental Contamination And House Values, Katherine Kiel
Environmental Contamination And House Values, Katherine Kiel
Economics Department Working Papers
A house is a bundle of many goods: The number of bedrooms, bathrooms, the quality of local public services, the tidiness of a neighbor’s yard, and the quality of the local environment. If transactions in the housing market reflect the interaction of informed buyers and sellers, then the price that the house sells for is the sum of the prices the buyer is willing to pay for each individual characteristic of the house. It is this notion that motivates environmental economists to study property values. If individuals consider the local environment as a component of the house they purchase, then …