Willingness to pay for clean air: Evidence from diesel vehicle registration restrictions in Japan

Shuhei Nishitateno and Paul Burke ()

Regional Science and Urban Economics, 2021, vol. 88, issue C

Abstract: This paper documents the effect of diesel vehicle registration restrictions introduced in Japan in 2001 in reducing suspended particulate matter (SPM) concentrations. The focus is on Aichi and Mie prefectures, home to a number of municipalities that were required to implement these restrictions in 2001. The paper then uses this intervention to estimate the causal effect of air pollution on land values. We obtain estimates of the elasticity of residential land prices with respect to SPM concentration of between −0.4 and −1.0. The revealed willingness to pay for the improvements in air quality induced by the intervention in Aichi and Mie is estimated at about US$7 billion. We also find evidence that net in-migration appears to be a key mechanism via which clean air was capitalized into higher land values. The results are robust to a number of estimation approaches and sample restrictions.

Keywords: Vehicle registration restrictions; Urban air pollution; Hedonic pricing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q53 Q58 R48 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Working Paper: Willingness to pay for clean air: Evidence from diesel vehicle registration restrictions in Japan (2021)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:regeco:v:88:y:2021:i:c:s016604622100017x

DOI: 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2021.103657

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