Diane Hite

Property-Value Impacts of an Environmental Disamenity: The Case of Landfills

The purpose of this article is to quantify the property-value impacts of a change in environmental quality by using the hedonic price model. In particular, we focus on the impact of the presence of landfills on nearby residential real estate prices. We combine elements of an urban location choice and hedonic pricing model to estimate the effects of the presence of multiple environmental disamenities on residential real estate prices. We explicitly account for temporal effects by including housing transactions in areas with both open and closed landfills and control for information effects. In addition, we treat property taxes and prices as being simultaneously determined. Our analysis suggests that closing landfills will not necessarily mitigate property-value impacts.

Telephone presurveys, self-selection, and non-response bias to mail and Internet surveys in economic research

A telephone presurvey is used in conjunction with mail and Internet follow-up surveys to assess self-selection and item nonresponse bias. Findings suggest that self-selection is present, but item nonresponse bias is limited. The Internet version exhibited no item nonresponse bias.

A Random Utility Model of Environmental Equity

Past attempts to uncover evidence that economically disadvantaged groups are unjustly exposed to environmental disamenities have failed to take into account self-selection behavior of individuals or groups of individuals. For instance, when choosing a place to live, households may be trading environmental quality for other housing, neighborhood, and location characteristics they care about. Previous literature on environmental justice has investigated location choice of polluting industries, but fails to account for consumer self-selection in housing markets. This paper thus focuses on location choice of individuals based on observed housing transactions. From the results of a random utility model, a test is proposed that incorporates the no-envy concept of economic equity. The results support a finding for environmental discrimination with respect to African American households, but do not support the hypothesis that poor households in general are unfairly exposed to environmental disamenities.

A Mixed Index Approach to Identifying Hedonic Price Models

Recent literature suggests identifying house price hedonic regressions by using instrumental variables, spatial statistics, the borders approach, panel data, and other techniques. We present an empirical application of a mixed index model, first proposed by Bowden [Bowden, R.J., 1992. Competitive selection and market data: the mixed-index problem. The Review of Economic Studies 59(3):625-633.] to identify hedonic price regressions. We compare the performance of the mixed index model to a traditional hedonic model and to a hedonic model that includes characteristics of the buyer of each house. We find the mixed index model outperforms the other models based on bootstrap distributions of predicted housing values, prediction variance, and predicted policy effects. The mixed index model distributions are less skewed and kurtotic than the other models, suggesting it more closely satisfies the classical linear regression assumption of normally distributed errors. Compared to the mixed index model, the traditional hedonic overstates the importance of lot size and school quality to house price and understates the importance of environmental quality.

Zoning, Development Timing, and Agricultural Land Use at the Suburban Fringe: A Competing Risks Approach

Competing risks survival analysis is used to investigate tax and zoning policy impacts on residential, commercial, and industrial development timing in a rapidly growing Midwestern county. Industrial development appears both to precede and occur concurrently with residential development, while commercial development follows other types. Although residences appear to locate away from industrial land, zoning decisions favoring industry may attract rather than deter residential development within a jurisdiction. Regions with higher infrastructure taxes experience development later. Because school taxes fund local public goods important to homeowners, they have little influence on residential timing, but strong influences on industrial and commercial timing.

Assessment of Economic and Water Quality Impacts of Land Use Change Using a Simple Bioeconomic Model

The objective of this study is to assess the economic and water quality impact of land use change in a small watershed in the Wiregrass region of Alabama. The study compares changes in water quality and revenue from agricultural and timber production due to changes in land use between years 1992 and 2001. The study was completed in two stages. In the first stage, a biophysical model was used to estimate the effect of land use change on nitrogen and phosphorus runoff and sediment deposition in the main channel; in the second stage, farm enterprise budgeting tools were used to estimate the economic returns for the changes in land use condition. Both biophysical and economic results are discussed, and a case for complex optimization to develop a decision support system is presented.

A translog demand model for inherited traits in aquacultured catfish

Abstract Manipulation of physical traits of catfish body form has the potential to change the relative quantities of different final product forms. Some of these forms will have higher value to consumers, resulting in higher profits for producers. Advances in genetic research will allow more effective manipulation of physical traits of aquacultured catfish in orderto increase relative quantities of desirable product forms. To identify which product forms hold the most potential value to consumers, we use the indirect Translog demand system to estimate welfare effects from substitution among various forms of fresh catfish.

AGRICULTURAL SEDIMENTATION IMPACTS ON LAKESIDE PROPERTY VALUES

A hedonic pricing model is developed to estimate the effects of policies to control agricultural sedimentation on lakeside property values at 15 Ohio state park lakes, Using an LA/AIDS demand system, we estimate changes in social welfare that result from upstream soil conservation practices and/or lake dredging activity, while holding other property characteristics constant. Policy simulation results suggest that lakeside residents generally have a higher willingness to pay on an annualized basis for sediment reduction from upstream soil conservation than for lake dredging. This has important implications for soil conservation policy, particularly in targeting improvements in the economic efficiency of the Conservation Reserve Program.

School Choice: Supporters and Opponents

We conduct a phone survey to examine the attitudes of Ohioans about school choice, which includes open enrollment programs, school vouchers, tuition tax credits, and charter schools. Previous studies examine more limited forms of choice and investigate fewer possible influences. We find the strongest opposition for school choice by people with graduate degrees and people who believe their assigned public school district is excellent. In fact, people’s opinions about their public schools are stronger predictors of school choice support than are objective measures of school quality. We find people with children in private schools and people with associate’s degrees to be the strongest supporters. Males tend to oppose choice and blue collar workers support it. We find no role for age, the convenience of alternative schools, or the protection of house values in support for school choice.

Demographic and Management Factors Affecting the Adoption and Perceived Yield Benefit of Winter Cover Crops in the Southeast

The inclusion of cover crops in cropping systems brings direct and indirect costs and benefits. Farmers will adopt and utilize cover crops as long as the perceived benefit of using them is positive. This paper examines the demographic and management factors affecting the adoption and perceived benefit (in terms of improved crop yield) of using winter annual cover crops. A double selectivity model of cover crop adoption and perceived yield gain was estimated using survey data of Alabama farmers examining cover crop use and management. Results may help in understanding factors shaping farmers’ perceptions, adoption, and retention of cover crops.