ENVIRONMENTAL AMENITIES AND COMMUNITY CHARACTERISTICS: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF PORTLAND, OREGON

This paper examines equilibrium properties of local jurisdictions implied by the Tiebout-style model. A set of equilibrium conditions are derived from a general equilibrium model of local jurisdictions. The conditions are parameterized and empirically estimated in a two-stage procedure. The method is applied to communities in a Portland metropolitan area with an extension of public-good provision to include environmental amenities. The results suggest that the model can replicate many of the empirical regularities observed in the data. For example, the predicted income distributions across communities closely matched the observed distribution. The estimated income elasticity of housing demand is consistent with previous findings. One important finding of this paper is that the parameter estimates would be biased if environmental amenities are not considered.Environmental Economics and Policy,

MEASURING INTERACTIONS AMONG URBAN DEVELOPMENT, LAND USE REGULATIONS, AND PUBLIC FINANCE

In this paper, a theoretical model is developed to analyze the interactions among residential development, land use regulations, and public financial impacts (public expenditure and property tax). A simultaneous equations system with self-selection and discrete dependent variables is estimated to determine the interactions for counties in the five western states (California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington). The results show that county governments are more likely to impose land use regulations when facing rapid land development, high public expenditure and property tax. The land use regulations, in turn, decrease land development, long-run public expenditure, and property tax at the cost of higher housing prices and property tax. During the period of 1982-1992, land use regulations reduced developed areas by 612,800 acres or 8.8 % of the developed area of five western states in 1992, but increased housing price by $5,741 per unit under "stringent" regulations and$1,319 per unit under "low" regulations. Because it costs money to develop and implement land use regulations, land use regulations increased public expenditure and property tax in the short run, during the period of 1982-1987. However, in the long-run (1982-1992), land use regulations actually reduce public expenditure and property taxes because the regulations reduce developed areas. The results also show that land use regulations, land development, public expenditure, and property tax all are significantly affected by population, geographic location, land quality, housing prices, and the risks and costs of development.Community/Rural/Urban Development, Land Economics/Use,

Public Expenditure and Poverty Reduction in the Southern United States

The objective of this research was to analyze the effects of education, health and hospital, parks and recreation, and public welfare expenditures on poverty, focusing particularly on how these relationships change over space and time. Government expenditure on parks and recreation has been the single most effective government expenditure category over time, although the marginal effects of the government expenditure on poverty alleviation have weakened over time. Clusters of the highest marginal effects of government expenditures on poverty reduction were identified for each time period using geographically weighted regression (GWR) and analysis of local indicators of spatial association (LISA)government expenditure, GWR, poverty, southern United States, Community/Rural/Urban Development,

BANDWIDTH SELECTION FOR SPATIAL HAC AND OTHER ROBUST COVARIANCE ESTIMATORS

This research note documents estimation procedures and results for an empirical investigation of the performance of the recently developed spatial, heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation consistent (HAC) covariance estimator calibrated with different kernel bandwidths. The empirical example is concerned with a hedonic price model for residential property values. The first bandwidth approach varies an a priori determined plug-in bandwidth criterion. The second method is a data driven cross-validation approach to determine the optimal neighborhood. The third approach uses a robust semivariogram to determine the range over which residuals are spatially correlated. Inference becomes more conservative as the plug-in bandwidth is increased. The data-driven approaches prove valuable because they are capable of identifying the optimal spatial range, which can subsequently be used to inform the choice of an appropriate bandwidth value. In our empirical example, pertaining to a standard spatial model and ditto dataset, the results of the data driven procedures can only be reconciled with relatively high plug-in values (n0.65 or n0.75). The results for the semivariogram and the cross-validation approaches are very similar which, given its computational simplicity, gives the semivariogram approach an edge over the more flexible cross-validation approach.spatial HAC, semivariogram, bandwidth, hedonic model

COMMUNITY CHOICES AND HOUSING DECISIONS: A SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN HIGHLANDS

This paper examines land development using an integrated approach that combines residential decisions about choices of community in the Southern Appalachian region with the application of the GIS (Geographical Information System). The empirical model infers a distinctive heterogeneity in the characteristics of community choices. The results also indicate that socioeconomic motives strongly affect urban housing decisions while environmental amenities affect those of rural housing.Public Economics,

Measuring the Contribution of Water and Green Space Amenities to Housing Values: An Application and Comparison of Spatially-weighted Hedonic Models

This study estimates the influence of proximity to water bodies and park amenities on residential housing values in Knox County, Tennessee, using the hedonic price approach. Values for proximity to water bodies and parks are first estimated globally with a standard ordinary least square (OLS) model. A locally weighted regression model is then employed to investigate spatial non-stationarity and generate local estimates for individual sources of each amenity. The local model is able to capture the variability in the quality of water bodies and parks across the county, something a conventional hedonic model using OLS cannot do.Land Economics/Use,

Measuring the Effects of a Land Value Tax on Land Development

The objective of this research is to evaluate a land value tax as a potential policy tool to moderate sprawling development in Nashville, TN, the nation’s most sprawling metropolitan community with a population of one million or more. To achieve this objective, the hypothesis is empirically tested that a land value tax encourages more development closer to preexisting development than farther from preexisting development. Specifically, the marginal effects of a land value tax on the probability of land development is hypothesized to be greater in areas around preexisting development than in areas more distant from preexisting development. The findings show that the marginal effects of a land value tax on the probability of developing parcels that neighbored previously developed parcels was greater than the probability of developing parcels that did not neighbor previously developed parcels. This finding suggests that land value taxation could be used to design compact development strategies that address sprawling development.Land value tax, Land development model, Urban sprawl, Land Economics/Use, Community/Rural/Urban Development,

Negative Externalities on Property Values Resulting from Water Impairment: The Case of the Pigeon River Watershed

The following hypothesis was tested: Willingness to bear a negative water impairment externality differs between those who do and those who do not receive economic benefit from the impairment source, e.g., a paper mill. The hypothesis was tested using a hedonic analysis of ambient water quality in two discrete housing markets in the Pigeon River Watershed, which have been polluted by the operation of a paper mill. The results suggest that North Carolina residents of the subwatersheds with impaired river, who experience economic benefits from the paper mill in addition to harmful effects, do perceive the pollution as a negative externality, whereas they may have a willingness to bear a similar type of negative externality associated with impaired streams. In contrast, the effects of both degraded river and streams on property values is perceived as a negative externality by residents in the Tennessee side, who experience only harmful effects from the pollution. North Carolina residents may hold greater willingness to bear the harmful effects of pollution as a given condition in their decision-making process because they receive economic benefits from the paper mill, while this internalization of the negative externality is weaker for residents in the Tennessee side.negative Externalities, water quality, spatial hedonic model, Environmental Economics and Policy,

Determinants of Demand for Participation in Wildlife Hunting: A County level Analysis

We developed an economic demand model of wildlife hunting and found that sociodemograpahic and ecological characteristics of county are its strong predictors. Result shows that the hunting is not popular among younger generation; and promoting hunting clubs and lease-hunting, recruiting young hunters could be effective policy considerations for retaining/promoting hunting.Wildlife hunting, License sales, Demand model, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q21, Q26, L83,

Measuring Interactions among Agricultural Productivity, Trade Openness, Agricultural GDP, and Income in Korea (1972- 2007)

Agricultural and Food Policy,