The economic costs of NIMBYism: evidence from renewable energy projects

Stephen Jarvis

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: Large infrastructure projects can have important social benefits, but also prompt strong local opposition. This is often attributed to NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) attitudes. I study the economic costs of NIMBYism and local planning restrictions by looking at renewable energy projects. Using hedonic methods I find that wind projects can impose significant external local costs, while solar projects do not. I then show that planning officials are particularly sensitive to local costs in their area. The resulting misallocation of investment may have increased wind power deployment costs by 10-29%. I conclude by examining compensation payments as a policy solution.

JEL-codes: Q31 Q42 Q51 R11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 93 pages
Date: 2021-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene, nep-env, nep-ppm, nep-reg and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/113653/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: The Economic Costs of NIMBYism - Evidence From Renewable Energy Projects (2021)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:113653

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