Sanitary Landfills, Stigma and Industrial Land Values

A significant literature exists that documents reductions in property value around toxic, chemical and in some cases solid waste landfills. There is also an emerging literature on stigma-related damage, which can be defined as a loss in value due to the increased risk associated with a contaminated property even after the problem has been eliminated. This research extends the empirical literature on landfills by examining the impact that solid waste landfills have on surrounding industrial property. The results indicate that the value of industrial land around an open, solid waste landfill is reduced by the presence of the landfill. Property around closed, solid waste landfills and open and closed refuse landfills is not adversely affected by the landfills. These results are not affected by the presence or absence of methane gas controls and ground water monitoring systems. Landfills sold with industrial zoning are discounted substantially by the market for various reasons, probably including limited alternative future uses, costs of remediation and potential liability from being in the chain of title.

The Members Speak: A Summary of the ARES Membership Survey Report

Most respondents to the survey indicated a high level of satisfaction with the current activities of ARES, while some members offered suggestions to improve the organization. Much of the data and other comments produced by the survey have been incorporated into various parts of the current Strategic Plan.

Does Competition Reduce Costs? Assessing the Impact of Regulatory Restructuring on U.S. Electric Generation Efficiency

This paper explores the empirical effects of competition on technical efficiency in the context of electricity industry restructuring. Restructuring programs adopted by many U.S. states made utilities residual claimants to cost savings and increased their exposure to competitive markets. We estimate the impact of these changes on annual generating plant-level input demand for non-fuel operating expenses, the number of employees and fuel use. We find that municipally-owned plants, whose owners were for the most part unaffected by restructuring, experienced the smallest efficiency gains over the past decade. Investor-owned utility plants in states that restructured their wholesale electricity markets had the largest reductions in nonfuel operating expenses and employment, while investor-owned plants in nonrestructuring states fell between these extremes. The analysis also highlights the substantive importance of treating the simultaneity of input and output decisions, which we do through an instrumental variables approach

Loss of Age-Restricted Status and Property Values: Youngtown Arizona

This study finds evidence of a large premium in house prices in Youngtown Arizona attributable to its age-restricted status. The persistence of a premium over long periods of time suggests that age restricted status can be a valuable component of the housing bundle, much like physical characteristics or location. It is likely that age-restricted status acts as a signal that the community provides facilities and services that meet the needs of the elderly and the assurance that those facilities and services will be available in the future. This assurance reduces uncertainty about the future and it is the reduced uncertainty that can be capitalized into house prices. The loss of age-restricted status in Youngtown, which increased uncertainty about the future, resulted in the elimination of the premium over approximately twelve to eighteen months even though essentially the same facilities and services continued to be available. The legal determination that Youngtown?s age restriction ordinance was invalid and could not be enforced had an immediate but temporary negative impact on house prices.

Age Restriction and Property Values

This study finds evidence of an age restriction premium that is maintained over time and across varying market conditions. Prior research has demonstrated that the reduced uncertainty associated with private covenants and deed restrictions can be capitalized into value. Age-restricted subdivisions provide a measure of certainty that future property owners must meet the same threshold age requirement satisfied by current owners. The evidence presented here is that this enhanced certainty is capitalized into property values, independent of the structural characteristics of individual units or subdivision amenities. Proposed federal regulations for age-restricted projects created uncertainty for several years in lower priced subdivisions that might not have met the new minimum quality standards. However, there is no evidence that this uncertainty impacted house prices.