IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jeeman/v88y2018icp259-282.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Contamination and incomplete information: Bounding implicit prices using high-profile leaks

Author

Listed:
  • Guignet, Dennis
  • Jenkins, Robin
  • Ranson, Matthew
  • Walsh, Patrick J.

Abstract

Incomplete information can lead households to underprice environmental disamenities in the housing market. To bound the true implicit prices, researchers sometimes study high-profile cases involving significant media and community attention. However, prior research finds that high-profile cases may lead to “stigma” effects that can confound interpretation of the results. This study compares these opposing effects at sixteen of the highest profile underground storage tank releases across the United States over the last thirty years. Using covariate matching and difference-in-differences hedonic regressions, we estimate the change in housing values around each site. We then conduct a cross-site meta-analysis to estimate the average treatment effects. We find an average housing price depreciation of 2–6% upon discovery of a release, which is an upper bound on the implicit price of contamination at more typical sites. Following cleanup, we find a housing price appreciation of a similar magnitude, suggesting that even in high-profile cases, surrounding neighborhoods do not experience persistent stigma.

Suggested Citation

  • Guignet, Dennis & Jenkins, Robin & Ranson, Matthew & Walsh, Patrick J., 2018. "Contamination and incomplete information: Bounding implicit prices using high-profile leaks," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 259-282.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeeman:v:88:y:2018:i:c:p:259-282
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2017.12.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0095069616303886
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jeem.2017.12.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jill J. McCluskey & Gordon C. Rausser, 2003. "Stigmatized Asset Value: Is It Temporary or Long-Term?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(2), pages 276-285, May.
    2. Kiel, Katherine A. & Williams, Michael, 2007. "The impact of Superfund sites on local property values: Are all sites the same?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 170-192, January.
    3. Robin R. Jenkins & Dennis Guignet & Patrick J. Walsh, 2014. "Prevention, Cleanup, and Reuse Benefits from the Federal UST Program," NCEE Working Paper Series 201405, National Center for Environmental Economics, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, revised Nov 2014.
    4. Kevin Haninger & Lala Ma & Christopher Timmins, 2017. "The Value of Brownfield Remediation," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(1), pages 197-241.
    5. Lucija Muehlenbachs & Elisheba Spiller & Christopher Timmins, 2015. "The Housing Market Impacts of Shale Gas Development," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(12), pages 3633-3659, December.
    6. Dennis Guignet, 2013. "What Do Property Values Really Tell Us? A Hedonic Study of Underground Storage Tanks," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 89(2), pages 211-226.
    7. Zabel, Jeffrey E. & Guignet, Dennis, 2012. "A hedonic analysis of the impact of LUST sites on house prices," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 549-564.
    8. Kent Messer & William Schulze & Katherine Hackett & Trudy Cameron & Gary McClelland, 2006. "Can Stigma Explain Large Property Value Losses? The Psychology and Economics of Superfund," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 33(3), pages 299-324, March.
    9. Iacus, Stefano & King, Gary & Porro, Giuseppe, 2009. "cem: Software for Coarsened Exact Matching," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 30(i09).
    10. Matthew Blackwell & Stefano Iacus & Gary King & Giuseppe Porro, 2009. "cem: Coarsened exact matching in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 9(4), pages 524-546, December.
    11. Larry Dale & James C. Murdoch & Mark A. Thayer & Paul A. Waddell, 1999. "Do Property Values Rebound from Environmental Stigmas? Evidence from Dallas," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 75(2), pages 311-326.
    12. Jon Nelson & Peter Kennedy, 2009. "The Use (and Abuse) of Meta-Analysis in Environmental and Natural Resource Economics: An Assessment," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 42(3), pages 345-377, March.
    13. Leigh Linden & Jonah E. Rockoff, 2008. "Estimates of the Impact of Crime Risk on Property Values from Megan's Laws," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(3), pages 1103-1127, June.
    14. Walsh, Patrick & Mui, Preston, 2017. "Contaminated sites and information in hedonic models: An analysis of a NJ property disclosure law," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 1-14.
    15. Kuminoff, Nicolai V. & Parmeter, Christopher F. & Pope, Jaren C., 2010. "Which hedonic models can we trust to recover the marginal willingness to pay for environmental amenities?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 145-160, November.
    16. Dennis Guignet & Robin R. Jenkins & Matthew Ranson & Patrick J. Walsh, 2016. "Do Housing Values Respond to Underground Storage Tank Releases? Evidence from High-Profile Cases across the United States," NCEE Working Paper Series 201601, National Center for Environmental Economics, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, revised Mar 2016.
    17. Joshua D. Angrist & Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2009. "Mostly Harmless Econometrics: An Empiricist's Companion," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 8769.
    18. Gamper-Rabindran, Shanti & Timmins, Christopher, 2013. "Does cleanup of hazardous waste sites raise housing values? Evidence of spatially localized benefits," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 65(3), pages 345-360.
    19. Pope, Jaren C., 2008. "Buyer information and the hedonic: The impact of a seller disclosure on the implicit price for airport noise," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 498-516, March.
    20. Iacus, Stefano M. & King, Gary & Porro, Giuseppe, 2012. "Causal Inference without Balance Checking: Coarsened Exact Matching," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(1), pages 1-24, January.
    21. Van Houtven, George & Powers, John & Pattanayak, Subhrendu K., 2007. "Valuing water quality improvements in the United States using meta-analysis: Is the glass half-full or half-empty for national policy analysis?," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 206-228, September.
    22. Jaren C. Pope, 2008. "Do Seller Disclosures Affect Property Values? Buyer Information and the Hedonic Model," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 84(4), pages 551-572.
    23. Hanna Rema Nadeem & Oliva Paulina, 2010. "The Impact of Inspections on Plant-Level Air Emissions," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-33, March.
    24. Smith, V Kerry & Huang, Ju-Chin, 1995. "Can Markets Value Air Quality? A Meta-analysis of Hedonic Property Value Models," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(1), pages 209-227, February.
    25. Jeremy R. Groves & William H. Rogers, 2011. "Effectiveness of RCA Institutions to Limit Local Externalities: Using Foreclosure Data to Test Covenant Effectiveness," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 87(4), pages 559-581.
    26. Phaneuf, Daniel J. & Liu, Xiangping, 2016. "Disentangling property value impacts of environmental contamination from locally undesirable land uses: Implications for measuring post-cleanup stigmaAuthor-Name: Taylor, Laura O," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 85-98.
    27. Robert J. Johnston & Elena Y. Besedin & Richard Iovanna & Christopher J. Miller & Ryan F. Wardwell & Matthew H. Ranson, 2005. "Systematic Variation in Willingness to Pay for Aquatic Resource Improvements and Implications for Benefit Transfer: A Meta‐Analysis," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 53(2‐3), pages 221-248, June.
    28. Qiu, Yueming & Wang, Yi David & Wang, Jianfeng, 2017. "Soak up the sun: Impact of solar energy systems on residential home values in Arizona," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 328-336.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Henrik Andersson & Emmanuelle Lavaine, 2018. "Nitrates and property values: evidence from a french market intervention," Working Papers hal-01947415, HAL.
    2. Dennis Guignet & Matthew T. Heberling & Michael Papenfus & Olivia Griot, 2022. "Property Values, Water Quality, and Benefit Transfer: A Nationwide Meta-analysis," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 98(2), pages 191-218.
    3. Guignet, Dennis & Jenkins, Robin R. & Belke, James & Mason, Henry, 2023. "The property value impacts of industrial chemical accidents," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    4. Wang, Xiaohan & Yang, Mengjun, 2024. "The effect of soil pollution information disclosure on housing prices," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    5. Lavaine, Emmanuelle, 2019. "Environmental risk and differentiated housing values: Evidence from the north of France," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 74-87.
    6. Emmanuelle Lavaine & Henrik Anderson, 2018. "Nitrates and Property Values," Post-Print hal-02048555, HAL.
    7. Tang, Chuan & Czajkowski, Jeffrey & Heintzelman, Martin D. & Li, Minghao & Montgomery, Marilyn, 2020. "Rail accidents and property values in the era of unconventional energy production," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    8. Georgic, Will C. & Klaiber, Allen, 2018. "Identifying the Costs to Homeowners of Eliminating NFIP Subsidies," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 274444, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    9. Kovacs, Kent & West, Grant & Nowak, David J. & Haight, Robert G., 2022. "Tree cover and property values in the United States: A national meta-analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    10. Guignet, Dennis & Jenkins, Robin R. & Nolte, Christoph & Belke, James, 2023. "The External Costs of Industrial Chemical Accidents: A Nationwide Property Value Study," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    11. Georgic, Will & Klaiber, H. Allen, 2022. "Stocks, flows, and flood insurance: A nationwide analysis of the capitalized impact of annual premium discounts on housing values," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    12. Emmanuelle Lavaine, 2019. "Environmental risk and differentiated housing values," Post-Print hal-02048712, HAL.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Guignet, Dennis & Jenkins, Robin R. & Belke, James & Mason, Henry, 2023. "The property value impacts of industrial chemical accidents," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    2. Guignet, Dennis B. & Martinez-Cruz, Adan L., 2018. "The impacts of underground petroleum releases on a homeowner's decision to sell: A difference-in-differences approach," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 11-24.
    3. Walsh, Patrick & Mui, Preston, 2017. "Contaminated sites and information in hedonic models: An analysis of a NJ property disclosure law," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 1-14.
    4. Guignet, Dennis & Jenkins, Robin R. & Nolte, Christoph & Belke, James, 2023. "The External Costs of Industrial Chemical Accidents: A Nationwide Property Value Study," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    5. Wang, Xiaohan & Yang, Mengjun, 2024. "The effect of soil pollution information disclosure on housing prices," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    6. Steve Gibbons & Stephan Heblich & Esther Lho & Christopher Timmins, 2016. "Fear of Fracking? The Impact of the Shale Gas Exploration on House Prices in Britain," SERC Discussion Papers 0207, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    7. Phaneuf, Daniel J. & Liu, Xiangping, 2016. "Disentangling property value impacts of environmental contamination from locally undesirable land uses: Implications for measuring post-cleanup stigmaAuthor-Name: Taylor, Laura O," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 85-98.
    8. Klemick, Heather & Mason, Henry & Sullivan, Karen, 2020. "Superfund cleanups and children’s lead exposure," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    9. Cassidy, Alecia & Meeks, Robyn C. & Moore, Michael R., 2023. "Cleaning up the Great Lakes: Housing market impacts of removing legacy pollutants," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    10. Lucija Muehlenbachs & Elisheba Spiller & Christopher Timmins, 2015. "The Housing Market Impacts of Shale Gas Development," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(12), pages 3633-3659, December.
    11. Heather Klemick & Charles Griffiths & Dennis Guignet & Patrick Walsh, 2018. "Improving Water Quality in an Iconic Estuary: An Internal Meta-analysis of Property Value Impacts Around the Chesapeake Bay," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 69(2), pages 265-292, February.
    12. Meri Davlasheridze & Qin Fan, 2019. "Valuing Seawall Protection in the Wake of Hurricane Ike," Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Springer, vol. 3(3), pages 257-279, October.
    13. Heather Klemick & Charles Griffiths & Dennis Guignet & Patrick Walsh, 2015. "Explaining Variation in the Value of Chesapeake Bay Water Quality Using Internal Meta-analysis," NCEE Working Paper Series 201504, National Center for Environmental Economics, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, revised Nov 2015.
    14. Dennis Guignet & Matthew T. Heberling & Michael Papenfus & Olivia Griot, 2022. "Property Values, Water Quality, and Benefit Transfer: A Nationwide Meta-analysis," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 98(2), pages 191-218.
    15. Kathrine Graevenitz & Daniel Römer & Alexander Rohlf, 2018. "The Effect of Emission Information on Housing Prices: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 69(1), pages 23-74, January.
    16. Christopher F. Parmeter & Jaren C. Pope, 2013. "Quasi-experiments and hedonic property value methods," Chapters, in: John A. List & Michael K. Price (ed.), Handbook on Experimental Economics and the Environment, chapter 1, pages 3-66, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    17. Kim, GwanSeon & Schieffer, Jack & Mark, Tyler, 2020. "Do superfund sites affect local property values? Evidence from a spatial hedonic approach," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 15-28.
    18. Patrick Gourley, 2019. "Social Stigma and Asset Value," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 85(3), pages 919-938, January.
    19. Dennis Guignet, 2013. "What Do Property Values Really Tell Us? A Hedonic Study of Underground Storage Tanks," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 89(2), pages 211-226.
    20. John Braden & Xia Feng & DooHwan Won, 2011. "Waste Sites and Property Values: A Meta-Analysis," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 50(2), pages 175-201, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Contaminated site; Groundwater; Hedonic; Meta-analysis; Property value; Underground storage tank; UST;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q24 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Land
    • Q51 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Valuation of Environmental Effects
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jeeman:v:88:y:2018:i:c:p:259-282. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/622870 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.