Guignet Dennis, Jenkins Robin, Ranson Matthew, Walsh Patrick
National Center for Environmental Economics, U.S. EPA.
Abt Associates, Inc.
J Environ Econ Manage. 2018;88:259-282. doi: 10.1016/j.jeem.2017.12.003.
Incomplete information can lead households to underprice environmental disamenities in the housing market. To bound true implicit prices, researchers sometimes turn to high-profile cases involving significant media and community attention. However, prior research also finds that high-profile cases can lead to "stigma" effects that may confound interpretation of implicit prices. This study compares these opposing effects at the highest profile underground storage tank releases across the United States over the last thirty years. We utilize covariate matching and estimate difference-in-differences hedonic regressions at each site, and then conduct a cross-site meta-analysis to estimate the average treatment effects. We find an average housing price depreciation of 2% to 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.
信息不完整可能导致家庭在住房市场中低估环境不利因素的价格。为了确定真实的隐含价格，研究人员有时会转向备受瞩目的案例，这些案例会引起媒体和社区的大量关注。然而，先前的研究也发现，备受瞩目的案例可能会导致“污名化”效应，这可能会混淆对隐含价格的解释。本研究比较了过去三十年美国各地最受关注的地下储罐泄漏事件中的这些相反效应。我们利用协变量匹配并在每个地点估计差分享乐回归，然后进行跨地点元分析以估计平均处理效应。我们发现，泄漏事件被发现后，房价平均贬值2%至6%，这是更典型地点污染隐含价格的上限。清理之后，我们发现房价有类似幅度的升值，这表明即使在备受瞩目的案例中，周边社区也不会经历持续的污名化。
