Water quality regulation continues to be controversial, as demonstrated by recent litigation between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state of Florida over nutrient standards. While the costs of standards are usually known, benefits may be diverse and difficult to identify. This...

We show how stated preference information obtained from a choice experiment, and revealed preference information based on housing market transactions, can be combined via generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation. Specifically, we use a moment condition matching the predicted marginal...

Hedonic property value models are widely used but are susceptible to potentially invalid conjectures based on the assumed measure of environmental quality. This paper focuses on an application where this is of particular concern: leaking underground storage tanks. I estimate a hedonic model...

The siting of wind facilities is extremely controversial. This paper uses data on 11,331 property transactions over nine years in northern New York State to explore the effects of new wind facilities on property values. We use a fixed-effects framework to control for omitted variables and...

Estimating the economic benefits of reduced health damages due to improvements in environmental quality continues to challenge economists. We review welfare measures associated with reduced wildfire smoke exposure, and a unique dataset from California’s Station Fire of 2009 allows for a...

This article investigates the value of reducing non-point-source pollution in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Using stated preference methods, we find the lower bound on the benefits of reducing runoff enough to universally increase water clarity by 4 ft is greater than $10 million annually. Using a...

By using data on self-rated life satisfaction as an empirical indicator of well-being, this paper estimates the valuation of two major air pollutants differentiated by people’s age category (stage in the life cycle) and birth cohort. Life satisfaction regressions involving about 59,000...

Measuring how fish consumption advisories affect angler’s utility has proven difficult. Relying on stated preference (SP) data is problematic because of hypothetical bias. Revealed preference (RP) data benefits from using actual behavior; however, co-linearity often makes it difficult to model...

To evaluate the impact of soil conservation on reservoir services, we extend replacement cost theory to cases where reservoir benefits are restored or preserved for multiple years. The framework is used to value the effect that a marginal change in soil erosion has on current and future...

The NOAA Panel on contingent valuation (Arrow et al. 1993) recommends that the valuation question be cast under the form of a referendum because of incentive properties and familiarity to the respondent. Even though the literature has generally accepted the panel recommendation, it is not clear...