Journal of Forest Economics > Vol 26 > Issue 1

Forest pests and home values: The importance of accuracy in damage assessment and geocoding of properties

Klaus Moeltner, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech, USA, Christine E. Blinn, Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation, Virginia Tech, USA, Thomas P. Holmes, USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, Research Triangle Park, USA
 
Suggested Citation
Klaus Moeltner, Christine E. Blinn and Thomas P. Holmes (2017), "Forest pests and home values: The importance of accuracy in damage assessment and geocoding of properties", Journal of Forest Economics: Vol. 26: No. 1, pp 46-55. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jfe.2017.02.002

Publication Date: 0/1/2017
© 0 2017 Klaus Moeltner, Christine E. Blinn, Thomas P. Holmes
 
Subjects
 
Keywords
Mountain Pine BeetleMatching estimatorMeasurement errorAerial Detection Survey
 

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In this article:
Introduction 
Methodology 
Empirical application 
Conclusion 

Abstract

We examine the impact of measurement errors in geocoding of property locations and in the assessment of Mountain Pine Beetle-induced tree damage within the proximity of a given residence on estimated losses in home values. For our sample of homes in the wildland-urban interface of the Colorado front range and using a novel matching estimator with Bayesian regression adjustment we find that both types of errors can lead to substantial biases in estimated losses. Our results confirm that the Forest Service's Aerial Detection Survey is generally too coarse to be informative for property valuation that depends on highly localized spatial data.

DOI:10.1016/j.jfe.2017.02.002