Happiness and forest-attacking invasive alien species

Benjamin Jones

Chapter 8 in Handbook on Wellbeing, Happiness and the Environment, 2020, pp 144-163 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: By disrupting environmental quality, forest-attacking invasive species may also affect happiness. However, not enough is known about the non-market costs of invasive-induced happiness decrements. In this chapter, a deforestation quasi-experiment caused by the invasive emerald ash borer (EAB) in the United States (US) is exploited to economically value changes in life satisfaction. A difference-in-differences approach is used on EAB detections across 14 US states. Results suggest that detection of EAB in a county within the past five years is associated with a decline in life satisfaction that is equivalent to a $176 loss in annual household income. This corresponds to $5.8 billion in annual aggregate EAB-induced damages in the counties where the beetle was detected between 2006 and 2010. The causal interpretation of results is bolstered by finding that the happiness impacts of EAB are increasing in time as more trees die due to infestation.

Keywords: Economics and Finance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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