Browsing by Subject "economic impact"
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Item Examination of Housing Price Impacts on Residential Properties Before and After Superfund Remediation Using Spatial Hedonic Modeling(2010-10-12) Mhatre, Pratik ChandrashekharAlthough recent brownfields redevelopment research using theories of real estate valuation and neighborhood change have indicated negative effects on surrounding residential housing, little evidence exists to show price impacts and sociodemographic change after remediation. This study examines the extent and size of the economic impact of Superfund sites on surrounding single-family residential properties before and after remediation in Miami-Dade County and examines trends for contemporaneous sociodemographic changes. The study combines the economic impact from changes in environmental quality with contemporaneous sociodemographic changes within the purview of environmental and social justice. This study uses spatial hedonic price modeling on a comprehensive dataset of property-level data, with corresponding sales prices of housing transactions while controlling for other structural, neighborhood, and submarkets characteristics for assessing economic impact. Findings revealed that housing sales prices for single-family residential properties significantly increases as distance to the nearest contaminated Superfund increases. Following remediation, this negative impact declined and housing values increased significantly in neighborhoods with remedied Superfund sites albeit more so in low housing submarkets than premium submarkets. Spatial hedonic models outperformed traditional OLS models in presenting unbiased efficient parameter estimates, correcting for spatial dependence. Although no evidence for gentrification was observed, there existed significant differences between certain sociodemographic characteristics of neighborhoods around contaminated Superfund sites and those of properties located elsewhere leading to concerns of environmental and social justice. Findings suggest that low-income minority populations are more likely to be living in neighborhoods around contaminated Superfund sites and experience a greater negative effect on housing sales prices; these sites are also less likely to be remedied as compared to sites located elsewhere. The findings highlight not only the revealed preferences of homeowners with respect to environmental disamenities, but also help inform policymakers and researchers of the impact of brownfields redevelopment on economic and sociodemographic characteristics of a growing urban region with evolving cultural and social diversity. Incorporating influences of housing submarkets, neighborhood amenities, and spatial dependence help provide a holistic and comprehensive model for examining environmental disamenities and provide a better understanding for neighborhood change.Item Occupation, Dispersal, and Economic Impact of Major Invasive Plant Species in Southern U.S. Forests(2011-02-22) Wang, Hsiao-HsuanInvasive alien plants have impacted southern U.S. forests. This study focuses on quantifying current distribution, rate of dispersals, and economic losses caused by four major invaders ? Chinese tallow (Triadica sebifera (L.) Small), Chinese Privet (Ligustrum sinense Lour.), European Privet (Ligustrum vulgare L.), and Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica Thunb.). Using data from USDA Forest Service?s Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and USGS Land Use and Land Cover (LULC), I first used logistic regressions to build occupation models for these four species. Second, I used VB.NET? (Microsoft, 2003) and Environment System Research Institute (ESRI) Arc View? 9.2 Geographical Information System (GIS) to model spatially explicit dispersal dynamics of these species. Finally, I evaluated economic losses associated with these invasions. The results of occupation models showed that landscape features, climatic conditions, forest and site conditions, forest management activities and disturbances, and forest ownership have statistically significant impacts on current distributions of all four species. The results of dispersal models showed that invasions of Chinese tallow, Chinese and European privets, and Japanese honeysuckle will be likely to appear on approximately 6.65 million acres of forest land in East Texas and Louisiana, 3.81 million acres in Mississippi and Alabama, and 12.55 million acres in Mississippi and Alabama, respectively, during the next 20 years. The estimated timber losses resulting from the invasion with no control for the next 20 years at 5% discount rate is 518 million dollars for Chinese tallow, 2.72 billion dollars for Chinese and European privets, and 11.05 billion dollars for Japanese honeysuckle. From an economic point of view, it would be most cost effective to execute high intensity control for these invasive species. Based on these findings, strategies for monitoring and mitigating these invasive species are proposed.