The Impact of Interstate Highways on Land Use Conversion

Between 1945 and 2007, the United States lost 19.3 % of its agricultural land. Over the same time period, the construction of the 42,500 mile interstate highway system lowered transportation costs and opened large tracts of land for development. This paper assesses the impact of the interstate highway system on agricultural land loss in Georgia and uses the empirical estimates to simulate agricultural land loss resulting from the construction of additional interstate highways. Using a historical data set of agricultural land and interstate highway mileage, empirical estimates indicate that each additional mile of interstate highway reduces agricultural land by 468 acres. The impact of interstate highways is heterogeneous across initial level of county development. Urban counties convert 70 % more land than the full sample estimates. Simulation results show that additions to the interstate system create further loss of agricultural land. The results imply that future conservation programs need to consider how to mitigate the impact of the interstate highway system

Housing Demand, Commuting Patterns, and Land Use Responses to Public Investments

This dissertation investigates people’s responses when access to or the level of local public goods is proposed to or actually changes. By understanding how people respond to potential changes in school assignment, construction of the interstate highway system, and the widening of existing highways, researchers can gain better insight into how to accurately estimate people’s valuation of local public goods and policy makers can pursue effective policies to relieve traffic congestion and mitigate the impact of new highway construction. The first essay examines if information regarding potential school reassignment causes cross-sectional capitalization estimation techniques, most notably the border method, to undervalue people willingness to pay for school quality. Using hedonic regression techniques and home sale data from DeKalb County, Georgia, I find that residents’ expectations of future school quality are important factors in determining the magnitude of school quality capitalization estimates. The second essay explores how the construction of the interstate highway system impacted agricultural land loss in Georgia. Since agricultural land provides many positive externalities while its loss leads to several negative externalities, the results inform policy makers seeking to preserve agricultural land and study the urban form. Using a historical dataset covering 1945 to 2007, I find that each additional highway mile constructed led to the conversion of 468 acres of agricultural land. Finally, the third essay investigates commuter responses to the widening of existing highways in order to evaluate the effectiveness of road construction as a traffic congestion relief measure. The results indicate that the elasticity for the demand of driving with respect to the road supply is 0.522 and that it grows over time. Taken together, the result for the estimated elasticity imply that road construction may provide some congestion relief in the short run but eventually the expanded roads will be just as congested as before. The results of the three essays suggest that researchers and policy makers should take into the consideration how people will respond to potential changes to public goods as well as the short and long term impacts on investments in public goods

The impact of the subprime mortgage crisis on community health

Loans originated to borrowers with lower incomes and/or lower credit scores are classified as subprime. The spatial distribution of subprime loans is alarmingly concentrated in minority-dominated and low-income areas. Beginning in mid 2006 the subprime mortgage market began to see elevated levels of delinquent and defaulted loans. The causes are many but generally traced to the beginning of the reset periods for adjustable rate mortgages and the evaporation of demand for securitized subprime mortgages. As delinquent and default rates in subprime mortgages rise, areas with a concentration of high-risk borrowers are at risk to decline. The decline can be measured across four different groups of factors that indicate the health of a community. The four groups are: physical, institutional, socioeconomic and the residential body. The residential body factor group refers to the citizens of a community and their civic involvement. The analysis uses binary logistic regression to identify communities that are commonly associated with subprime mortgage defaults. Subprime loans in the ten-county Atlanta Metropolitan Area are the focus of the study. The analysis treats each census tract in the ten counties as an individual community. The sample loans are geocoded to the census tract level allowing defaulted loans to be tied to communities and their characteristics. The data is collected from a variety of sources including the U.S. Census Bureau, the Atlanta Regional Commission and RR Donnelley s Credit Risk Management database. The results indicate that the probability of subprime mortgage defaults are associated with higher vacancy rates, population loss, declining property tax revenues, depreciating property values, and declining owner reinvestment in their properties. Potential spill over impacts to the community include higher crime rates, decreased school funding and degradation of public infrastructure.M.S.Committee Chair: Thomas Boston; Committee Member: Maurizio Iacopetta; Committee Member: Patrick McCarth

Flooding and Elevation: An Examination of Differential Price Responses to Flood Events

Although many studies show elevating properties in flood-prone areas can be cost effective, few, if any, studies have examined the impact of home elevation on property values. We examine the impact of multiple flood events on property values of elevated and non-elevated homes in Charleston, SC. We find flooding significantly reduces the rate of appreciation, and home elevation increases the rate of lost appreciation. Our results suggest home elevation is not a flood risk adaptation and mitigation strategy valued by the market

Flooding And Liquidity On The Bayou: The Capitalization Of Flood Risk Into House Value And Ease-Of-Sale

The existing literature focuses on how perceived flood risk affects house value. Search theory, however, implies that flood risks will be capitalized into both house price and liquidity. This article draws on search theory to develop an empirical approach for estimating flood risk capitalization into both price and selling time. The results show the mix of price and liquidity capitalization varies by level of flood risk as well as across housing market phases. Regardless of the specific capitalization pattern, the results illustrate that focusing solely on price without allowing for concomitant liquidity capitalization can yield estimates that understate the full impact of flood risk on house transactions. © 2012 American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association

Flooding and liquidity on the bayou: The capitalization of flood risk into house Value and Ease-of-Sale

The existing literature focuses on how perceived flood risk affects house value. Search theory, however, implies that flood risks will be capitalized into both house price and liquidity. This article draws on search theory to develop an empirical approach for estimating flood risk capitalization into both price and selling time. The results show the mix of price and liquidity capitalization varies by level of flood risk as well as across housing market phases. Regardless of the specific capitalization pattern, the results illustrate that focusing solely on price without allowing for concomitant liquidity capitalization can yield estimates that understate the full impact of flood risk on house transactions. © 2012 American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association