Estimating the allocation of land to business

This paper is uniquely focused on mapping business land in satellite imagery, with the aim to introduce a standardized approach to estimating how much land in an observed area is allocated to business. Business land and control categories of land are defined and operationalized in a straightforward setting of pixel-based classification. The resultant map as well as information from a sample-based quantification of the map's accuracy are used jointly to estimate business land's total area more precisely. In particular, areas where so-called errors of omission are possibly concentrated are accounted for by post-stratifying the map in an extension of recent advances in remote sensing. In specific, a post-stratum is designed to enclose areas where business activity is co-located. This then enhances the area estimation in a spatially explicit way that is informed by urban and regional economic thought and observation. In demonstrating the methodology, a map for the San Francisco Bay Area metropolitan area is obtained at a producer's accuracy of 0.89 (F1-score = 0.84) or 0.82 to 0.94 when sub-selecting reference sample pixels by confidence in class assignment. Overall, the methodological approach is able to infer the allocation of land to business (in km2 ± 95% C.I.) on a timely and accurate basis. This inter-disciplinary study may offer some fundamental ground for a potentially more refined assessment and understanding of the spatial distribution of production factors as well as the related structure and implications of land use.</p

Rethinking the economic valuation of natural land:Spatial analyses of how deeply people value nature in rural areas and in cities

The value of natural land is not directly comparable with the value of alternative land uses with a more evident productivity in monetary terms, such as real estate or infrastructure. To overcome this problem, I analyze data that measure, with unique spatial precision, people’s appreciation for locations in nature. The analyses in which I apply these data show a much stronger connection between attractive natural land and the prices of nearby residential property than other studies suggest. The results also help us to better understand the relationship between long-term well-being and the supply of natural land, which has implications for the designation of nature conservation areas and for how ‘green’ we built our cities. The findings in this thesis indicate that increased effort is needed to combine high-density residential structures with access to attractive nature

The effect of asylum seeker reception centers on nearby house prices:Evidence from The Netherlands

With 20,945 asylum applications in 2016, the Netherlands received the tenth highest number of asylum requests in Europe. From the time of their arrival, and until a decision on their asylum requests is made, asylum seekers are sheltered in asylum seeker reception centers (ASRCs) across the country. This paper tests whether the opening of reception centers affects the prices of nearby houses. In doing so, likely differential effects across urban and non-urban areas, as well as for ASRCs of distinct capacities to host asylum seekers, are considered. The analysis uses hedonic regressions that are based on a staggered difference-in-differences design. Estimation comes from 2009–2017 information on the transaction prices of houses (N = 347,479) and the locations and opening dates of nearby ASRCs (N = 75). The results indicate that the opening of ASRCs causes the prices of some houses to fall by approximately 9.3%. However, this estimated effect pertains solely to single-family houses in less densely populated areas and for ASRC of high hosting capacity, whereas in cities no economically or statistically significant effects are found. The findings of this study have implications for the design of public policies that regard the spatial dispersion of ASRCs