Browsing by Author "Cohen, Jed Jacob"

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    The Effect of Mountain Pine Beetle Induced Tree Mortality on Home Values in the Colorado Front Range
    Cohen, Jed Jacob (Virginia Tech, 2013-06-06)
    Throughout the past decade American pine forests have experienced an epidemic of Mountain Pine Beetle (MPB) induced tree mortality. This thesis estimates the losses to home values caused by deteriorating forest quality in the Front Range Counties of Larimer and Boulder Colorado. We employ a repeat sales model that allows for region specific price indices, and non-linear age-related depreciation in home values. We use the time-invariant existence of pine forest near a home to overcome shortcomings in the measurement of MPB damage. We infer from temporal changes in the marginal "effect of pine trees near a home the approximate MPB "effect . We label this strategy the translating commodity approach. Using this strategy we are able to show that diminished forest quality causes forests to become a dis-amenity that negatively affects nearby home values. The total loss in 2011 home values due to their proximity to dying forest is estimated to be $137 million for all the homes in our sample. Such substantial losses may justify a forest management policy shift in order to better mitigate the risk of future MPB outbreaks.
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    Hedonic Valuation with Translating Amenities: Mountain Pine Beetles and Host Trees in the Colorado Front Range
    Cohen, Jed Jacob; Blinn, Christine E.; Boyle, Kevin J.; Holmes, Thomas P.; Moeltner, Klaus (2016-03)
    In hedonic valuation studies the policy-relevant environmental quality attribute of interest is often costly to measure, especially under pronounced spatial and temporal variability. However, in many cases this attribute affects home prices and consumer preferences solely through its impact on a readily observable, spatially delineated, and time-invariant feature of the physical landscape. We label such a feature a "translating amenity." We show that under certain conditions changes in the marginal effect of such amenities on home values over time can be used to draw inference on the implicit price of the unobserved environmental quality of interest. We illustrate this approach in the context of a repeat-sales model and the recently intensified outbreak of the Mountain Pine Beetle in the Colorado Front Range.
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    Planning for the Future in the Face of Climate Change Uncertainty: Three Econometric Techniques Applied to the Challenges Facing Energy, Water, and Recreation Demand
    Cohen, Jed Jacob (Virginia Tech, 2016-09-21)
    This dissertation consists of three separate research papers. Each paper uses a different econometric technique to analyze a problem relating to the social aspects of climate change. The first paper investigates a potential adaptive strategy to counteract warming stream waters through stream intervention projects. Using novel non-parametric matching estimation techniques it is shown that these intervention projects have positive effects on homeowners that are near to the stream but downstream of the project site. The second paper uses Bayesian econometric techniques to analyze survey data regarding the welfare losses experienced as a result of power outages across Europe. This paper shows how the severity and spatial distribution of these welfare losses will change as the climate warms, which enables the current electricity grid expansion taking place in Europe to account for these effects of climate change. The third paper uses Classical econometric techniques to estimate the effect of temperature on visitor recreation choices around Lake Tahoe. It is then shown that under climate scenarios the demand for beach and water access at Lake Tahoe will greatly increase, which suggests that lake managers begin to plan regulations and build infrastructure to account for this demand increase.