Explaining Variation in the Value of Chesapeake Bay Water Quality Using Internal Meta-analysis

Heather Klemick, Charles Griffiths, Dennis Guignet and Patrick Walsh

No 201504, NCEE Working Paper Series from National Center for Environmental Economics, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Abstract: This study conducts a meta-analysis of the value of water quality in the Chesapeake Bay derived from separate hedonic property value estimates in 14 Maryland counties. The meta-analysis allows us to: 1) investigate heterogeneity of estimates of the value of water clarity across counties based on socioeconomic and ecological factors, 2) understand the implication of econometric specification choices made in the original hedonic equations for benefit estimates, and 3) transfer the benefits out-of-sample to Bayfront counties in Washington, DC, Delaware, Virginia, and four additional counties in Maryland. We also investigate the in-sample and out-of-sample predictive power of different transfer strategies and find that a simpler unit value transfer can outperform more complex function transfers. The results illustrate both the usefulness of meta-analysis and the challenges of benefit transfer even when estimates being transferred represent a common geographic area, environmental attribute, and policy instrument.

Keywords: meta-analysis; benefit transfer; water quality; Chesapeake Bay; hedonic property value analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q51 Q53 Q57 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 48 pages
Date: 2015-11, Revised 2015-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr and nep-env
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nev:wpaper:wp201504

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