Grantee Research Project Results
2003 Progress Report: Measuring Economics Benefits for Amenity Consequences of Land Cover Changes
EPA Grant Number: R829508Title: Measuring Economics Benefits for Amenity Consequences of Land Cover Changes
Investigators: Smith, V. Kerry , Palmquist, Raymond B. , Phaneuf, Daniel J.
Institution: North Carolina State University
EPA Project Officer: Hahn, Intaek
Project Period: October 1, 2001 through September 30, 2004
Project Period Covered by this Report: October 1, 2002 through September 30, 2003
Project Amount: $299,855
RFA: Decision-Making and Valuation for Environmental Policy (2001) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Environmental Justice
Objective:
The objectives of this research project are to: (1) describe household choices in a framework that recognizes the assumptions and informational requirements of revealed preference methodologies (e.g., hedonic, random utility, and other models used to value changes in site specific amenities); and (2) incorporate a more explicit account of how economic activities impact environmental resources in these models. The specific focus of our research involves the quality of watersheds and related resources.
Progress Summary:
Our approach is intended to compare three methods: hedonic property value, random utility, and locational equilibrium models applied to a common area in Wake County, NC. To accomplish this comparison as a first step toward developing an integrated model, we will use several existing databases, augment them with locationally delineated information on soil characteristics and water quality, and collect new data on a sample of households in Wake County. The first database to be used for this analysis involves housing sales for Wake County. The second involves measures of water quality likely to be impacted by land uses, relying on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Geological Survey, and local North Carolina Division of Water Quality measurements. The last existing data set initially was proposed to be the 1994 U.S. EPA National Recreation Survey for North Carolina. At this point, we have revised the focus to be the North Carolina component of the 2000 National Recreation Survey.
During this project period, the research team: (1) completed the selection of the hedonic database for analysis, integrated it with two established geographic information system (GIS) formats, and defined a new GIS format for testing; (2) designed a household survey and mailed the survey to 7,500 households in Wake County, receiving a 31 percent response rate (all data were entered by the end of the year); (3) completed development of a water quality database in a format that allows these data to be merged with the hedonic and survey data; (4) developed preliminary analyses of water quality/land conversion models, random utility models with water quality measures, hedonic models with distance to freshwater sites included, and developed and assembled data for locational equilibrium models; (5) initiated conceptual analysis on the modeling of local recreation and the role of opportunity cost of time in individual choice, investigated alternative preference restrictions for the treatment of environmental amenities such as watershed quality; and (6) members of the project team made six presentations and completed work on four draft papers; one has been submitted for publication, others are being revised for publication.
Future Activities:
We will: (1) complete the cleaning of the Wake County household survey data during the early part of the year; (2) develop an aggregate selection model for a household survey to test for the effects of the lower than anticipated response rate; (3) prepare a paper describing the issues in linking the economic and geomorphological data using the water quality database developed for the project; (4) complete the conceptual analysis for local recreation and develop a paper describing the conceptual analysis and the empirical results derived from the homeowner survey; and (5) complete the initial work on the role of watershed quality for the random utility, hedonic, and locational equilibrium models.
Journal Articles on this Report : 1 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
| Other project views: | All 20 publications | 10 publications in selected types | All 6 journal articles |
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Smith VK, Banzhaf HS. Quality adjusted price indexes and the Willig condition. Economics Letters 2007;94(1):43-48. |
R829508 (2003) R829508 (2004) R828103 aka R826609 (Final) |
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Supplemental Keywords:
geographic information system, GIS, economic benefits, land cover, water quality, random utility model, hedonic model, locational equilibrium model, Wake County, North Carolina, NC, recreation, opportunity cost, choice, environmental amenities, household, freshwater, survey, homeowner, watershed, geomorphological data., RFA, Scientific Discipline, Economic, Social, & Behavioral Science Research Program, Economics and Business, decision-making, Ecology and Ecosystems, Economics & Decision Making, ecosystem valuation, residential property values, model aggregation methods, economic benefits, landowner behavior, measuring benefits, valuing environmental quality, recreational value, cost benefit, environmental values, household choice, land cover changes, water quality value, behavior model, efficient household frameworkProgress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.