Identifier
etd-05152015-141837
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Agricultural Economics
Document Type
Dissertation
Abstract
As part of ongoing efforts to assess ecosystem services provided by wetlands, this research focuses on estimating the private monetary value of wetland services to residential property owners in Louisiana and Alabama using a hedonic price model. Understanding that tradeoffs must be made with limited resources, valuing ecosystem services is important for policy and decision making purposes, such as determining how much public and private financial resources should be put towards wetland maintenance and restoration. Data on property transactions, wetland coverage, and built infrastructure were collected for the analysis. Based on theory and results from a Box-Cox model, the log-linear functional form was the best fit for the data. Marginal implicit prices of services from wetland ecosystems were estimated using proximity variables. Most wetland proximity variables were statistically significant and indicative of preferences for different wetland types. Based on coefficient estimates, freshwater ponds were the only preferred wetland ecosystems to live in closer proximity to in Louisiana, while freshwater emergent wetlands were the only preferred wetland ecosystems in Alabama. Homeowners preferred living further from rivers in both Louisiana and Alabama. Results are consistent with the wetland service valuation literature from across the United States which used the property-price hedonic approach.
Date
2015
Document Availability at the Time of Submission
Release the entire work immediately for access worldwide.
Recommended Citation
Savolainen, Michelle A., "A Market-Based Approach for Valuing Ecosystem Services on Coastal Properties" (2015). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 1038.
https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/1038
Committee Chair
Kazmierczak, Richard F., Jr.
DOI
10.31390/gradschool_dissertations.1038