IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ags/jlaare/117207.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Something in the Water? Testing for Groundwater Quality Information in the Housing Market

Author

Listed:
  • McLaughlin, Patrick A.

Abstract

I test the level of information regarding possible groundwater contamination in the residential real estate market in Washington County, Minnesota. An approximately seven square-mile trichloroethylene plume has affected hundreds of households’ water supplies since at least 1988 in the region. I find that homeowners were initially well-informed by market forces, but were later somewhat misinformed by government actions regarding the potential of water contamination from the plume. A disclosure law passed in 2003 may have added new, low-cost, and imperfect information to the market that could explain the change in informational awareness.

Suggested Citation

  • McLaughlin, Patrick A., 2011. "Something in the Water? Testing for Groundwater Quality Information in the Housing Market," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 36(2), pages 1-20, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:ags:jlaare:117207
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.117207
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/117207/files/JARE_Aug2011__10_pp375-394_McLaughlin.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.117207?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michaels, R. Gregory & Smith, V. Kerry, 1990. "Market segmentation and valuing amenities with hedonic models: The case of hazardous waste sites," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 223-242, September.
    2. Kohlhase, Janet E., 1991. "The impact of toxic waste sites on housing values," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 1-26, July.
    3. Ted Gayer & James T. Hamilton & W. Kip Viscusi, 2002. "The Market Value of Reducing Cancer Risk: Hedonic Housing Prices with Changing Information," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 69(2), pages 266-289, October.
    4. Leggett, Christopher G. & Bockstael, Nancy E., 2000. "Evidence of the Effects of Water Quality on Residential Land Prices," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 121-144, March.
    5. Pope, Jaren C., 2008. "Buyer information and the hedonic: The impact of a seller disclosure on the implicit price for airport noise," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 498-516, March.
    6. Smith, V Kerry & Johnson, F Reed, 1988. "How Do Risk Perceptions Respond to Information? The Case of Radon," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 70(1), pages 1-8, February.
    7. Palmquist, Raymond B., 2006. "Property Value Models," Handbook of Environmental Economics, in: K. G. Mäler & J. R. Vincent (ed.), Handbook of Environmental Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 16, pages 763-819, Elsevier.
    8. K. G. Mäler & J. R. Vincent (ed.), 2003. "Handbook of Environmental Economics," Handbook of Environmental Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    9. Rosen, Sherwin, 1974. "Hedonic Prices and Implicit Markets: Product Differentiation in Pure Competition," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(1), pages 34-55, Jan.-Feb..
    10. Donald J. Epp & K. S. Al-Ani, 1979. "The Effect of Water Quality on Rural Nonfarm Residential Property Values," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 61(3), pages 529-534.
    11. W. Kip Viscusi & Wesley A. Magat & Joel Huber, 1987. "An Investigation of the Rationality of Consumer Valuations of Multiple Health Risks," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 18(4), pages 465-479, Winter.
    12. Katherine A. Kiel, 1995. "Measuring the Impact of the Discovery and Cleaning of Identified Hazardous Waste Sites on House Values," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 71(4), pages 428-435.
    13. Viscusi, W Kip & O'Connor, Charles J, 1984. "Adaptive Responses to Chemical Labeling: Are Workers Bayesian Decision Makers?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(5), pages 942-956, December.
    14. Cropper, Maureen L & Deck, Leland B & McConnell, Kenneth E, 1988. "On the Choice of Functional Form for Hedonic Price Functions," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 70(4), pages 668-675, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Perry, Gregory M., 2012. "WAEA Presidential Address Deciding Where to Publish: Some Observations on Journal Impact Factor and Article Influence Score," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 37(3), pages 1-14.
    2. John Chamblee & Carolyn Dehring & Craig Depken & Joseph Nicholson, 2015. "Water Contamination, Land Prices, and the Statute of Repose," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 398-414, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Katherine Kiel, 2006. "Environmental Contamination and House Values," Working Papers 0601, College of the Holy Cross, Department of Economics.
    2. Ida Ferrara & Stephen McComb & Paul Missios, 2007. "Local Willingness-to-Pay Estimates for the Remediation of the Sydney Tar Ponds in Nova Scotia," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 33(4), pages 441-458, December.
    3. Ted Gayer & James T. Hamilton & W. Kip Viscusi, 2002. "The Market Value of Reducing Cancer Risk: Hedonic Housing Prices with Changing Information," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 69(2), pages 266-289, October.
    4. Kim, GwanSeon & Schieffer, Jack & Mark, Tyler, 2016. "Do Superfund Sites Affect Local Property Values? Evidence from a Spatial Hedonic Approach," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235835, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    5. Klaiber, H. Allen & Gopalakrishnan, Sathya, 2012. "The Impact of Shale Exploration on Housing Values in Pennsylvania," 2012 Annual Meeting, August 12-14, 2012, Seattle, Washington 124368, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    6. Kuminoff, Nicolai V. & Parmeter, Christopher F. & Pope, Jaren C., 2010. "Which hedonic models can we trust to recover the marginal willingness to pay for environmental amenities?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 145-160, November.
    7. Michael Greenstone & Justin Gallagher, 2008. "Does Hazardous Waste Matter? Evidence from the Housing Market and the Superfund Program," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(3), pages 951-1003.
    8. Rose, Steven K., 1999. "Non-Market Valuation Techniques: The State of the Art," Working Papers 127688, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
    9. Mario du Preez & Michael C. Sale, 2011. "The impact of social housing developments on nearby property prices: A Nelson Mandela Bay Case Study," Working Papers 241, Economic Research Southern Africa.
    10. Kim, GwanSeon & Schieffer, Jack & Mark, Tyler, 2020. "Do superfund sites affect local property values? Evidence from a spatial hedonic approach," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 15-28.
    11. Abbott, Joshua K. & Klaiber, H. Allen, 2010. "Is all space created equal? Uncovering the relationship between competing land uses in subdivisions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 296-307, December.
    12. Mario Du Preez & Michael Sale, 2013. "The Impact of Social Housing Developments on Nearby Property Prices: a Nelson Mandela Bay Case Study," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 81(3), pages 451-466, September.
    13. Sudip Chattopadhyay & John B. Braden & Arianto Patunru, 2005. "Benefits Of Hazardous Waste Cleanup: New Evidence From Survey‐ And Market‐Based Property Value Approaches," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 23(3), pages 357-375, July.
    14. Nepal, Mani & Rai, Rajesh K. & Khadayat, Madan S. & Somanathan, E., 2020. "Value of cleaner neighborhoods: Application of hedonic price model in low income context," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    15. Dennis Guignet, 2013. "What Do Property Values Really Tell Us? A Hedonic Study of Underground Storage Tanks," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 89(2), pages 211-226.
    16. David E. Clark, 2005. "The Effects of Ignoring Train Whistle Bans on Residential Property Values," Working Papers and Research 0504, Marquette University, Center for Global and Economic Studies and Department of Economics.
    17. Robert W. Paterson & Kevin J. Boyle, 2002. "Out of Sight, Out of Mind? Using GIS to Incorporate Visibility in Hedonic Property Value Models," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 78(3), pages 417-425.
    18. Robin R. Jenkins & Elizabeth Kopits & David Simpson, 2006. "Measuring the Social Benefits of EPA Land Cleanup and Reuse Programs," NCEE Working Paper Series 200603, National Center for Environmental Economics, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, revised Sep 2006.
    19. Stefania Tonin & Margherita Turvani, 2011. "Environmental contamination and industrial real estate market: an application of hedonic price method in Italy," ERSA conference papers ersa10p511, European Regional Science Association.
    20. Kuminoff, Nicolai V. & Parmeter, Christopher F. & Pope, Jaren C., 2008. "Hedonic Price Functions: Guidance On Empirical Specification," 2008 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2008, Orlando, Florida 6555, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:jlaare:117207. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/waeaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.