Paper Number: EE-0004 and EE-0036

Document Date:   01/01/1985 to 09/01/1994

Author(s):  University of Maryland-College Park

Subject Area(s):  Economic Analysis, Water Quality, Benefits Analysis, Revealed Preference Methods; Hedonic Property Benefits Methods

Keywords: Economic Analysis, Air Quality, Benefits Analysis, Human Health Benefits, Ecological Benefits; Stated Preference Methods; Revealed Preference Methods; Cost of Damages Avoided; Hedonic Property Benefits Methods

Abstract: 

A series of reports were prepared under a grant awarded to the University of Maryland-College Park for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency focusing on estimating the benefits of water pollution control.

Volume I: Identification of Preferences in Hedonic Models.  This report deals with one approach to inferring the value of environmental improvements - the hedonic method. It is part of the accepted wisdom of economics that environmental quality is a public good. Hence improvements in environmental quality will tend to be provided in less than optimal quantities by decentralized decisions. A corollary to this tenet is that government intervention may be required to provide optimal quantities of environmental improvements. To determine optimal quantities, the costs and benefits of environmental improvements are needed. In practice, optimal quantities of environmental improvements are almost never directly sought. Instead, government intervention for environmental improvements comes in the form of new rules or changes in rules. Benefit cost analysis can be applied to changes in rules to determine whether they are in the right direction. If enough rule changes are evaluated, then optimal quantities of environmental improvements can be achieved indirectly..  (Authors: McConnell, Kenneth E.; Cropper, Maureen L.; Mendelsohn, Robert; Phipps, Tim T.)

Volume II.  Measuring the Benefits of Water Quality Improvements Using Recreation Demand Models. This 1979 study on the economic benefits of air pollution control includes the empirical results obtained from two experiments to measure the health and aesthetic benefits of air pollution control in the South Coast Air Basin of Southern California. Each experiment involved the same six neighborhood pairs, where the pairings were made on the basis of similarities in housing characteristics, socio-economic factors, distances to beaches and services, average temperatures, and subjective indicators of housing quality. The elements of each pair differed substantially only in terms of air quality. Data on actual residential property transactions and on stated preferences in air quality were collected.  The results indicate that air quality deterioration in the Los Angeles area has had substantial negative effects on housing prices and that these effects are comparable in magnitude to what people say they are willing to pay for improved air quality.  (Authors: Bockstael, Nancy E; Hanemann, W. Michael; Strand, Ivar E)

Volume III.  Benefits From Improvement in Chesapeake Bay Water Quality. This report attempts to focus attention on the human use of the Chesapeake Bay. It describes something about the nature and level of that use. It also considers what we know and what we do not know about the relationship between chemical and biological characteristics of the Bay and human use. This relationship must be understood in order to address the more complex measurement of human benefits. (Authors:  Bockstael, Nancy E.;  McConnell, Kenneth E.; Strand, Ivar E)

Volume IV.  Marine Recreational Fishing in the Middle and South Atlantic: A Descriptive Study.  This report is the descriptive phase of a research project on the economics of marine recreational fishing along the Middle and South Atlantic coast of the U.S. It describes the data from three large surveys on sportfishing, surveys that will form the basis of a subsequent phase of the research project. This first phase provides a broad-brushed picture of saltwater fishing during the 1980's and serves as a foundation for a more comprehensive economic study. This report is the descriptive phase of a research project on the economics of marine recreational fishing along the Middle and South Atlantic coast of the U.S. It describes the data from three large surveys on sportfishing, surveys that will form the basis of a subsequent phase of the research project. This first phase provides a broad-brushed picture of saltwater fishing during the 1980's and serves as a foundation for a more comprehensive economic study found in Volume V.  (Authors: Strand, Ivar E.; McConnell, Kenneth E.; Bockstael, Nancy E.)

Volume V.  The Economic Value of Mid- and South-Atlantic Sportfishing.  This report is a study of the economic value of marine recreational fishing on the East Coast of the U.S., from Long Island, New York to Key Biscayne, Florida. It is the second in a series on the economics of recreational fishing in this region; the first volume is also available. This study is concerned with the value of recreational fishing opportunities to anglers, not individuals and firms providing services to those anglers. It contains an analysis of responses to questions concerning individuals' preferences, both stated and revealed, for sportfishing sites. The ultimate goal of the project is to document the value of marine resources derived from recreational fishing from New York to Florida.  (Authors: McConnell, Kenneth E.; Strand, Ivar E.)

These papers are part of the  Environmental Economics Research Inventory.

• Benefit Analysis Using Indirect or Imputed Market Methods. Volume I. Identification of Preferences in Hedonic Models (1985) (PDF)(122 pp, 24 MB, 01/01/1985, EE-0004a; EPA-230-10-89-068)
  This report deals with one approach to inferring the value of environmental improvements - the hedonic method. It is part of the accepted wisdom of economics that environmental quality is a public good. Hence improvements in environmental quality will tend to be provided in less than optimal quantities by decentralized decisions. A corollary to this tenet is that government intervention may be required to provide optimal quantities of environmental improvements.
• Benefit Analysis Using Indirect or Imputed Market Methods. Volume II. Measuring the Benefits of Water Quality Improvements Using Recreation Demand Models (1989) (PDF)(275 pp, 6 MB, 10/01/1989, EE-0004B, EPA 230-10-89-069)
  This 1989 report attempts to provide a more comprehensive, credible approach to the valuation of the economic benefits from water quality improvements. It links the fundamental concepts of the travel cost model with advances in the labor supply, welfare, and econometrics literatures. Part I concerns advances in the use of recreational demand models for benefit valuation. Part II concerns multiple site demand models and the measurement of benefits from water quality improvements.
• Benefit Analysis Using Indirect or Imputed Market Methods. Volume III. Benefits from Improvements in Chesapeake Bay Quality (1988) (PDF)(184 pp, 3 MB, 04/01/1988, EE-0004C, EPA 230-10-89-070)
  This report attempts to focus attention on the human use of the Chesapeake Bay. It describes something about the nature and level of that use. It also considers what we know and what we do not know about the relationship between chemical and biological characteristics of the Bay and human use. This relationship must be understood in order to address the more complex measurement of human benefits.
• Benefit Analysis Using Indirect or Imputed Market Methods. Volume IV. Marine Recreational Fishing in the Middle and South Atlantic: A Descriptive Study (1991) (PDF)(245 pp, 2 MB, 08/01/1991, EE-0036A)
  This report is the descriptive phase of a research project on the economics of marine recreational fishing along the Middle and South Atlantic coast of the U.S. It describes the data from three large surveys on sportfishing, surveys that will form the basis of a subsequent phase of the research project. This first phase provides a broad-brushed picture of saltwater fishing during the 1980's and serves as a foundation for a more comprehensive economic study found in Volume V.
• Benefit Analysis Using Indirect or Imputed Market Methods. Volume IV. The Economic Value of Mid- and South-Atlantic Sportfishing (1991) (PDF)(142 pp, 42 MB, 09/01/1994, EE-0036B)
  This report is a study of the economic value of marine recreational fishing on the East Coast of the U.S., from Long Island, New York to Key Biscayne, Florida. It contains an analysis of responses to questions concerning individuals' preferences, both stated and revealed, for sportfishing sites. The ultimate goal of the project is to document the value of marine resources derived from recreational fishing from New York to Florida.