Dr. Jamie Mullins, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Seminar Title: "Climate change and flood beliefs: Evidence from New York real estate"
Abstract:
Applying a hedonic difference-in-differences framework to a census of residential property transactions in New York City 2003-2017, we estimate the effects of three flood risk signals: 1) the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act, which increased premiums; 2) Hurricane Sandy; and 3) new FEMA flood-plain maps. We find larger effects for properties where signals carry the most new information, with properties included in the new floodplain after avoiding flooding by Sandy experiencing price reductions as large as 18 percent. Informed by a theoretical model, we decompose our reduced-form estimates into the effects of insurance premium changes and updating, finding that new maps (an information signal) induce belief changes substantially larger than those from insurance reform (a price signal). Using Google data, we document increases in flood-related search intensity coincident with flood risk signals. (JEL: Q54, Q58, R30, G22)
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
3:00pm - 4:15pm
W.B. Young Building, room 132
View the full Spring 2018 ARE Seminar Schedule
For more information, contact: Tatiana Andreyeva at tatiana.andreyeva@uconn.edu