This study investigates the connection between river riparian buffers and property values. The buffers protect the integrity of aquatic ecosystems and support resilience to rising temperatures and severe storms due to climate change. A hedonic study using 18,782 property sales was conducted to estimate the value of riverfront land and forested riparian buffers along the New and Watauga Rivers in North Carolina. Property owners place a significant value on river frontage and the associated amenities - 30% of a riverfront property value is attributable to the river frontage, about $133,653 of a mean property value of $445,510. Owners of river-front properties value forested riparian buffers but there is a catch, they do not want all the riparian buffer on their land forested. Property sale prices increase as the percentage of the riparian buffer that is forested increases and prices are maximized at 40% tree cover. At 40% tree cover, 37% property sale prices are attributable to riparian tree cover. However, with 100% tree cover property values are reduced by about $175,000 relative to an average priced property with no riparian tree cover. The results can help government agencies and NGOs interested in riverine ecosystem resilience in the face of development and climate change to motivate revegetation of riparian buffers with limited tree cover; it is in the financial, and esthetic, interest of landowners to increase the forested portion of their riparian buffer. If extensive tree cover is desired, say greater than 50% forested, landowner education and revegetation cost-sharing programs are unlikely to provide sufficient incentives to garner landowner participation and more sophisticated programing is required.

Hedonic studies of residential tree cover vary spatially due to differences in data and estimation methods, which make it difficult to generalize whether there are differences in preferences, local environmental conditions or differences in data and estimation approaches. We conduct hedonic analyses of tree cover in multiple U.S. cities using consistent spatial data and estimation methods and summarize results via an internal meta-analysis. Study results provide robust evidence for spatially varying preferences for tree cover in urban areas. The results indicate that homeowners place more value on tree cover that is located on properties more than 0.1 km from their homes than tree cover on or near their own properties, within 0.1 km. This poses important community challenges in the public provision of tree cover, which can result in under investment in tree cover at the individual property level. This preference dichotomy can influence community support regarding tree removal and planting policies. The results suggest that areas with more rainfall and higher temperatures are less likely to have positive tree-cover capitalization in property prices. This is an important consideration as climate change brings higher temperatures and more severe storms that pose greater risks of forest fires and falling limbs/trees that can affect residential properties.

This study examines the impact of urban waterway conditions on property market prices. In general, similar revealed preference studies typically focus on identifying the value associated with changes in attributes such as riparian vegetation or water quality. Using an index that classifies waterways based on the vegetation and channel conditions, we analyse both attributes. Our spatial hedonic property price model findings indicate that buyers are willing to pay premiums ranging from 2.7% to 8.5%, depending on vegetation and channel conditions. However, when the proximity to the waterway is accounted for, we found that properties adjacent to the highest-ranked vegetation and channel conditions attract a higher premium of 12.8%. Overall, the implicit marginal effects for the distance-condition interaction variables indicate that for lower-ranked waterway conditions, there is a relative aversion to being adjacent to waterways. The results suggest that there are significant gains to be realised from removing concrete-lined channels and replacing them with stones for banks, or re-creating unmodified channels, even if there is only limited scope for increasing vegetation.

Due to the nature of nitrogen cycling, policies designed to address water quality concerns have the potential to provide benefits beyond the targeted water quality improvements. For example, actions to protect water quality by reducing nitrate leaching from agriculture also reduce emissions of nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas. These positive effects, which are incidental to the regulation's intended target, are termed “co‐benefits.” To quantify the co‐benefits associated with reduced nitrate leaching, we integrate an economic model of farmer decision making with a model of terrestrial nitrogen cycling for the watershed surrounding Lake Mendota, Wisconsin, USA. Our modeling approach provides a framework that links air and water pollutants in an agri‐environmental system and offers a direction for future studies. Our model results highlight the finding that the co‐benefits from nitrous oxide abatement are substantial, and their inclusion increases the benefit–cost ratio of water quality policies. Consideration of these co‐benefits has the potential to reverse the conclusions of benefit–cost analysis in the assessment of current water quality policies.

In Bangladesh, cholera poses a significant environmental health risk. Yet, information about the severity of cholera risk is limited as risk varies over time and changing weather patterns make historical cholera risk predictions less reliable. In this paper, we examine how households use geographically and temporally personalized cholera risk predictions to inform their beliefs and behaviors related to cholera and its aversion. We estimate how access to a smartphone application containing monthly cholera risk predictions unique to a user's home location affects households' beliefs about their cholera risk and their water use and hygiene behaviors. We find that households with access to this application feel more equipped to respond to environmental and health risks and reduce their reliance on surface water for bathing and washing-a common cholera transmission pathway. We do not find that households invest additional resources into drinking water treatment, nor do we find reductions in self-reported cholera incidence. Further, households with a static, non-personalized app containing public health information about cholera exhibit similar patterns of beliefs updating. Taken together, our results suggest that access to dynamic risk information can help households make safer water choices, yet improving design and credibility remain important dimensions for increasing application usability.

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We discuss data quality and modeling issues inherent in the use of nationwide property data to value environmental amenities. By example of Zillow's Transaction and Assessment Database, a real estate database covering the United States, we identify challenges and propose guidance for (1) identifying arm's- length sales; (2) geolocating parcels and buildings; (3) identifying temporal links between transaction, assessor, and parcel data; (4) identifying property types, such as single - family homes and vacant lands; and (5) dealing with missing or mismeasured data for standard housing attributes. We review current practice and show that how researchers address these issues can meaningfully influence research findings. (JEL Q51)

This study uses Zillow's ZTRAX property transaction database to investigate variation in hedonic price effects of water clarity on single-family houses throughout the United States. We consider five spatial scales and estimate models using different sample selection criteria and model specifications. Our results indicate considerable spatial heterogeneity both within and across the four U.S. Census regions. However, we also find heterogeneity resulting from different types of investigator decisions, including sample selection and modelling choices. Thus, it is necessary to use practical knowledge to consider the limits of market areas and to investigate the robustness of estimation results to investigator choices. (JEL Q51).

High-quality water resources provide a wide range of benefits, but the value of water quality is often not fully represented in environmental policy decisions, due in large part to an absence of water quality valuation estimates at large, policy relevant scales. Using data on property values with nationwide coverage across the contiguous United States, we estimate the benefits of lake water quality as measured through capitalization in housing markets. We find compelling evidence that homeowners place a premium on improved water quality. This premium is largest for lakefront property and decays with distance from the waterbody. In aggregate, we estimate that 10% improvement of water quality for the contiguous United States has a value of $6 to 9 billion to property owners. This study provides credible evidence for policymakers to incorporate lake water quality value estimates in environmental decision-making.

Hedonic price models are commonly used to estimate implicit prices for lake water quality across small geographic regions that might be assumed to be a part of a common real estate market. Yet recent studies expand the geographic scale of the hedonic model potentially obscuring important differences in implicit prices across markets. We estimate implicit prices for lake water quality across multiple states in the northeast and upper Midwest in the United States of America at three different geographic scales: substate, state, and multistate. We find implicit price estimates are heterogeneous at both the substate and state-levels, which is not accounted for in state-level or multistate hedonic models. Our results show that estimates across a broad geographic scale can be driven by a single subregion within the defined area. Overall, the study demonstrates that using a single hedonic model over a large geographic area may obscure important heterogeneity in implicit prices used to estimate potential benefits for water-quality improvements.

Central Park is an iconic feature of New York City, which was the first and one of the hardest hit cities in the United States by the Coronavirus. State-level stay-at-home order, raising COVID-19 cases, as well as the public's personal concerns regarding exposure to the virus, led to a significant reduction of Central Park visitation. We utilized extensive cellphone tracking data to conduct one of the pioneering empirical studies assessing the economic impact of COVID-19 on urban parks. We integrated the difference-in-difference (DID) design with the recreation-demand model. The DID design aids in identifying the causal impacts, controlling for unobservable factors that might confound the treatment effects of interest. Concurrently, the recreational demand model examines the driving factors of visitation changes and enables us to estimate the welfare changes experienced by New York City's residents. Our findings shine a light on the substantial, yet often overlooked, welfare loss triggered by the pandemic. The analysis indicates that the pandemic resulted in a 94% reduction in visitation, corresponding to an annual consumer surplus loss of $450 million. We noted a rebound in visitation following the initial outbreak, influenced by shifts in government policy, weather conditions, holiday periods, and personal characteristics.

For nearly 50 years, the Clean Water Act (CWA) has served as the main environmental statute that regulates water quality in the United States. Yet the jurisdictional limits of the act, in terms of which waters are regulated, remain unresolved. This article reviews the complicated history of these waters of the United States (WOTUS) and discusses the important role of economics in understanding the benefits and costs of a narrow versus a broad definition of WOTUS. During the Obama and Trump administrations, several economic analyses arrived at different conclusions regarding whether to expand or reduce CWA protections. We examine the key components of these analyses, including a novel federalism analysis used to support deregulation of US waterways. In this analysis, the Trump administration assumed that states would fill regulatory gaps left by the federal government. We conclude with some thoughts about key issues for the Biden administration to consider as it develops its own definition of WOTUS as well as research priorities for economists seeking to inform the debate about WOTUS.

This paper is a literature review intended to establish a practical approach to estimating costs and benefits of alternative riparian management scenarios. Although the review did not address the specific objective of estimating marginal economic benefits associated with changes in the riparian management zone width and management practices, a few key findings were noted in this review:  Several studies provide examples of integrated physical, biological, and economic analysis of forest management and riparian restoration. However, most of these call for scenarios with significant management changes.  The areas of valuation literature most relevant to the objective of this review were 1) hedonic property values studies of water quality and 2) aquatic-based recreational demand studies. In particular, the benefits of improving or preventing degradation of water quality and recreational fishing literature was the most numerous and beneficial.  Spatial differences are significant and should be a factor in riparian management. For example, riparian areas near population centers are more valuable, especially due to increased recreational opportunity. Differences in how areas are managed directly contributes to differences in values and GIS analysis is invaluable in this area.

Waterway restoration in urban areas can be an important environmental policy topic. However, there have been few studies of monetary benefits to help justify expenditures and inform priority setting for remediation works. We investigated values for improving river health in two catchments in Sydney, Australia: the Cooks Catchment, which is smaller and urban-based, and the Georges Catchment, which is larger and located in both urban and periurban areas. Using choice experiments, we found that households are willing to pay Australian Dollars (AUD) 10.34 per year for 5 years in the Cooks Catchment, and AUD 2.64 in the Georges Catchment, to restore 1 km of urban waterway. We found that willingness to pay is moderated by the time until project outcomes are achieved. Comparison with typical costs of urban stream remediation suggested that there is a broad range of projects that will produce positive net benefits in the Cooks Catchment, whereas in the Georges Catchment the economically viable projects are those with lower cost and that can achieve their outcomes relatively quickly.

We investigate residential property-price effects of the spread of the Hemlock wooly adelgid infestation northward through central portions of Connecticut and Massachusetts, USA. We find that hemlock trees and the accompanying adelgid infestation within 0.1 km buffers of properties affect sale prices, but the results do not extend to buffers of 0.5 and 1.0 km's. Further, within the 0.1 km buffer, only the healthiest hemlock trees contribute positively to property values. We investigated the robustness of the results to three data interpolation methods, Kriging, Inverse Distance Weighting and Spline, and while there was some minor difference in outcomes the results are robust to these interpolation methods. Two property-price models were estimated, a traditional hedonic model with spatial fixed effects and a repeat sale model. The models provide substantially different property-price impacts and care needs to be taken when interpreting these estimates. Both approaches are limited but in different ways; the hedonic by potentially omitted variables and the repeat-sales by a limited number of observations. Our results provide some support for the repeat-sale model as the hedonic model with spatial fixed effects underperformed when both models were estimated using the same data.

We can't presume that states will fill gaps in federal oversight

We propose a new method for analyzing multiple-destination recreation trips and apply it to visitation at national parks in the southwestern United States. We use conventional random utility theory and treat groups of parks (portfolios) as choice alternatives. We consider one choice occasion per respondent and condition that choice on the person visiting at least one park in the choice set, so the participation decision (go/no-go) is not modeled. Trip cost includes time, travel, lodging, and food cost for visiting all sites in the portfolio. Variation in trip cost is generated by variation in the location where individuals enter and exit the southwestern region and by variation in the specific set of parks in each portfolio. We use specialized sampling weights to correct for on-site sampling. Finally, we provide estimates of per trip losses for closing one or more of the parks.

Background Both theoretical and empirical evidence supports the potential of modest financial incentives to increase the reach of evidence-based weight control programs. However, few studies exist that examine the best incentive design for achieving the highest reach and representativeness at the lowest cost and whether or not incentive designs may be valued differentially by subgroups that experience obesity-related health disparities. Methods A discrete choice experiment was conducted ( n = 1232 participants; over 90% of them were overweight/obese) to collect stated preference towards different financial incentive attributes, including reward amount, program location, reward contingency, and payment form and frequency. Mixed logit and conditional logit models were used to determine overall and subgroup preference ranking of attributes. Using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data sample weights and the estimated models, we predicted US nationally representative participation rates by subgroups and examined the effect of offering more than one incentive design. External validity was checked by using a completed cluster randomized control trial. Results There were significant subgroup differences in preference toward incentive attributes. There was also a sizable negative response to larger incentive amounts among African Americans, suggesting that higher amounts would reduce participation from this population. We also find that offering participants a menu of incentive designs to choose from would increase reach more than offering higher reward amounts. Conclusions We confirmed the existence of preference heterogeneity and the importance of subgroup-targeted incentive designs in any evidence-based weight control program to maximize population reach and reduce health disparities.

Choice experiments (CEs) are commonly used to estimate monetary values for characteristics of public goods, but there are unresolved design issues. The number of alternatives is one of them. Increasing the number of alternatives increases the potential information learned from a sample of a limited size, which may assist subjects in selecting a preferred alternative (referred as matching) or may make choices more difficult (referred as complexity). A convergent-validity study is conducted to compare CE designs with status quo (SQ) plus one, two or three alternatives. To enhance convergent-validity insights, we use the SQ plus one treatment, which is a theoretically supported treatment, as a counterfactual treatment. We fail to find convergent validity between the one-alternative treatment and the twoand three-alternative treatments. Yet there is little difference in welfare estimates between the twoand three-alternative treatments. We find a net matching effect in the one-alternative treatment as the number of attribute-level changes increases, which reduces the likelihood of choosing the SQ alternative. We find net complexity effects in the twoand three-alternative treatments, which increases the likelihood of subjects choosing the SQ alternative as the number of choice questions increases. Our results support the use of SQ plus one-alternative design, suggest caution when using a SQ plus twoand three alternative designs.