IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cep/cepdps/dp1942.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Are friends electric? Valuing the social costs of power lines using house prices

Author

Listed:
  • Stephen Gibbons
  • Cheng Keat Tang

Abstract

Overhead electrical power lines and pylons have long raised concerns regarding the effects of electromagnetic fields on health, noise pollution and the visual impact on rural landscapes. These issues are once again salient because of the need for new lines to connect sources of renewable energy to the grid. In this study we provide new evidence on the cost implied by these externalities, as revealed in house prices. We use a spatial difference-in-difference approach that compares price changes in neighbourhoods that are close to overhead power lines, before and after they are constructed, with price changes in comparable neighbourhoods further away. Our findings suggest that the construction of new overhead pylons reduces prices by 3.6% for properties up to 1200 meters away, suggesting the impacts extend further than previously estimated.

Suggested Citation

  • Stephen Gibbons & Cheng Keat Tang, 2023. "Are friends electric? Valuing the social costs of power lines using house prices," CEP Discussion Papers dp1942, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    • Handle: RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1942
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/dp1942.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Charles J. Delaney & Douglas Timmons, 1992. "High Voltage Power Lines: Do They Affect Residential Property Value?," Journal of Real Estate Research, American Real Estate Society, vol. 7(3), pages 315-330.
    2. Stanley W. Hamilton & Gregory M. Schwann, 1995. "Do High Voltage Electric Transmission Lines Affect Property Value?," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 71(4), pages 436-444.
    3. Francois Des Rosiers, 2002. "Power Lines, Visual Encumbrance and House Values: A Microspatial Approach to Impact Measurement," Journal of Real Estate Research, American Real Estate Society, vol. 23(3), pages 275-302.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Charles Thomas & Gerd Welke, 2017. "The Effect of HVTLs on Property Values: An Event Study," International Real Estate Review, Global Social Science Institute, vol. 20(2), pages 167-187.
    2. Tang, Cheng Keat & Gibbons, Steve, 2023. "Are friends electric? Valuing the social costs of power lines using house prices," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121288, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Sally Sims & Peter Dent, 2005. "High-voltage Overhead Power Lines and Property Values: A Residential Study in the UK," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 42(4), pages 665-694, April.
    4. Giaccaria Sergio & Frontuto Vito & Dalmazzone Silvana, 2010. "Who’s afraid of power lines? Merging survey and GIS data to account for spatial heterogeneity," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201002, University of Turin.
    5. Olivier JOALLAND & Tina RAMBONILAZA, 2017. "Assessing the impact of renewable energy infrastructure on the “tourist value” in rural landscapes: a spatial hedonic approach," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2017-10, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    6. Fenrick, Steve A. & Getachew, Lullit, 2012. "Cost and reliability comparisons of underground and overhead power lines," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 31-37.
    7. Silvia Banfi & Massimo Filippini & Andrea Horehájová, 2008. "Valuation of Environmental Goods in Profit and Non-Profit Housing Sectors: Evidence from the Rental Market in the City of Zurich," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 144(IV), pages 631-654, December.
    8. Silvia Banfi & Massimo Filippini & Andrea Horehájová, 2012. "Using a choice experiment to estimate the benefits of a reduction of externalities in urban areas with special focus on electrosmog," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(3), pages 387-397, January.
    9. Darshana Rajapaksa & Wasantha Athukorala & Shunsuke Managi & Prasad Neelawala & Boon Lee & Viet-Ngu Hoang & Clevo Wilson, 2018. "The impact of cell phone towers on house prices: evidence from Brisbane, Australia," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 20(1), pages 211-224, January.
    10. Jain Niraj & Chileshe Roy A. & Muwowo Francis M & Mwewa Mambwe, 2019. "Perception Effects of High Voltage Transmission (HVT) Lines on Residential Property Values: Cases of Chalala, Libala South and Kamwala South Areas of Lusaka City-Zambia," Real Estate Management and Valuation, Sciendo, vol. 27(3), pages 31-41, September.
    11. Olivier JOALLAND & Tina RAMBONILAZA, 2017. "Valeur touristique des aménités environnementales et nuisances associées aux infrastructures d’énergie renouvelable : une approche hédonique spatiale," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 46, pages 93-115.
    12. Francois Des Rosiers, 2002. "Power Lines, Visual Encumbrance and House Values: A Microspatial Approach to Impact Measurement," Journal of Real Estate Research, American Real Estate Society, vol. 23(3), pages 275-302.
    13. McNair, Ben J. & Bennett, Jeff & Hensher, David A., 2011. "A comparison of responses to single and repeated discrete choice questions," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 554-571, September.
    14. Sunak, Yasin & Madlener, Reinhard, 2012. "The Impact of Wind Farms on Property Values: A Geographically Weighted Hedonic Pricing Model," FCN Working Papers 3/2012, E.ON Energy Research Center, Future Energy Consumer Needs and Behavior (FCN), revised Mar 2013.
    15. Benjamin Wirth & Andreas Mense, 2014. "Flat Prices, Cell Phone Base Stations, and Network Structure," ERSA conference papers ersa14p1552, European Regional Science Association.
    16. Natalia Sajnóg & Katarzyna Sobolewska-Mikulska & Justyna Wójcik-Leń, 2019. "Methodology of Determination of the Range of Restrictions Related to the Existence of Transmission Devices on Private Land—Case Study of Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-21, July.
    17. Silvia Banfi & Massimo Filippini & Andrea Horehájová, 2007. "Hedonic Price Functions for Zurich and Lugano with Special Focus on Electrosmog," CEPE Working paper series 07-57, CEPE Center for Energy Policy and Economics, ETH Zurich.
    18. Prasad Neelawala & Clevo Wilson & Wasantha Athukorala, 2013. "The impact of mining and smelting activities on property values: a study of Mount Isa city, Queensland, Australia," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 57(1), pages 60-78, January.
    19. Sebastian Brandt & Wolfgang Maennig, 2012. "Perceived Externalities of Cell Phone Base Stations: The Case of Property Prices in Hamburg, Germany," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 44(2), pages 396-410, February.
    20. Mueller, Christoph Emanuel, 2020. "Why do residents participate in high-voltage transmission line planning procedures? Findings from two power grid expansion regions in Germany," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    externalities; overhead power lines; pylons; house prices; revealed preferences;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:cep:cepdps:dp1942. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://cep.lse.ac.uk/_new/publications/discussion-papers/ .

    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.