气候变化领域集成服务门户

Actual and perceived damages from environmental disamenities can disrupt a utility maximizing households otherwise optimal decision of when to sell their home. This study examines this relatively under-investigated topic with an empirical application to petroleum releases from leaking underground storage tanks, like those commonly found at gas stations. The ubiquity and relative homogeneity of this disamenity facilitates a difference in-differences methodology. The results reveal that the timing of home sales is impacted by leak and cleanup events at these disamenities; leading to both selling sooner and delaying a sale, depending on the event, presence of the primary exposure pathway, and the quality of the home. The implications of these results are discussed.