IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/aecrev/v112y2022i4p1334-63.html

Wetlands, Flooding, and the Clean Water Act

Author

Listed:
  • Charles A. Taylor
  • Hannah Druckenmiller

Abstract

In 2020 the Environmental Protection Agency narrowed the definition of "waters of the United States," significantly limiting wetland protection under the Clean Water Act. Current policy debates center on the uncertainty around wetland benefits. We estimate the value of wetlands for flood mitigation across the United States using detailed flood claims and land use data. We find the average hectare of wetland lost between 2001 and 2016 cost society $1,840 annually, and over $8,000 in developed areas. We document significant spatial heterogeneity in wetland benefits, with implications for flood insurance policy and the 50 percent of "isolated" wetlands at risk of losing federal protection.

Suggested Citation

  • Charles A. Taylor & Hannah Druckenmiller, 2022. "Wetlands, Flooding, and the Clean Water Act," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(4), pages 1334-1363, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:112:y:2022:i:4:p:1334-63
    DOI: 10.1257/aer.20210497
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/aer.20210497
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://doi.org/10.3886/E153221V1
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/aer.20210497.appx
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/aer.20210497.ds
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1257/aer.20210497?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
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Kuwayama, Yusuke & Olmstead, Sheila & Zheng, Jiameng, 2022. "A more comprehensive estimate of the value of water quality," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    2. Fenichel, Eli P. & Dean, Monica F., 2024. "Blended academic insights for biodiversity and conservation finance," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    3. Molina, Renato & Costello, Christopher & Kaffine, Daniel, 2024. "Sharing and expanding the co-benefits of conservation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).
    4. Lin, Yatang & McDermott, Thomas K.J. & Michaels, Guy, 2024. "Cities and the sea level," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    5. Metaxoglou, Konstantinos & Smith, Aaron, 2025. "Agriculture’s nitrogen legacy," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    6. Karwowski, Nicole & Skidmore, Marin, 2023. "Nature’s Kidneys: the Role of the Wetland Reserve Program in Restoring Water Quality," 2023 Annual Meeting, July 23-25, Washington D.C. 335440, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    7. Reynaert, Mathias & Souza-Rodrigues, Eduardo & van Benthem, Arthur A., 2024. "The environmental impacts of protected area policy," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    8. Paul, Laura A. & McGranaghan, Christina & Siders, A.R. & Dineva, Polina K. & Palm-Forster, Leah H. & Messer, Kent D., 2024. "Addressing coordination problems in residential buyouts: Experimental evidence for managed retreat in the face of climate change-related threats," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    9. repec:ags:aaea22:335440 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Winston P. Hovekamp & Katherine R. H. Wagner, 2023. "Efficient Adaptation to Flood Risk," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 113, pages 304-309, May.
    11. Ren, Qianping & West, Jeremy, 2023. "Cleaner waters and urbanization," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    12. Todd K BenDor & Joungwon Kwon & T William Lester, 2023. "Assessing the size and growth of the US wetland and stream compensatory mitigation industry," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(9), pages 1-20, September.
    13. Raff, Zach & Earnhart, Dietrich, 2024. "Environmental monitoring and enforcement at animal feeding operations: The effects on surface water quality," 2024 Annual Meeting, July 28-30, New Orleans, LA 343659, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    14. repec:ags:aaea22:343659 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Charles A. Taylor & Geoffrey Heal, 2021. "Fertilizer and Algal Blooms: A Satellite Approach to Assessing Water Quality," NBER Chapters, in: Risks in Agricultural Supply Chains, pages 83-105, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Nicola Garbarino, 2025. "Concrete Adaptation under Extreme Precipitation," ifo Working Paper Series 419, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    17. Susana Ferreira, 2024. "Extreme Weather Events and Climate Change: Economic Impacts and Adaptation Policies," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 16(1), pages 207-231, October.
    18. Mutlu, Asli & Roy, Debraj & Filatova, Tatiana, 2023. "Capitalized value of evolving flood risks discount and nature-based solution premiums on property prices," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    19. Winston P. Hovekamp & Katherine R. H. Wagner, 2023. "Efficient Adaptation to Flood Risk," CESifo Working Paper Series 10243, CESifo.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • K32 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Energy, Environmental, Health, and Safety Law
    • Q24 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Land
    • Q25 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Water
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:aea:aecrev:v:112:y:2022:i:4:p:1334-63. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Michael P. Albert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeaaaea.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.