The ESA
When was the ESA enacted?
1973
What econometric methods did they use?
Staggered and spatial DiDs
What was the ESA's impact on house prices?
No significant impact was found
To which context can the study be generalised to?
To the US context
What is the most endangered animal currently?
The Javan Rhinos (only 75 left)
Which of the 2 ESA determinations takes economic factors into account?
the designation of the CHs (Critical Habitats)
What variables did they use to measure economic activity?
Building permits
At what distance of the CH border do house values change?
2km
What is the main strength of the EV?
What is the Triple Bottom Line?
Profit (important for firms to maximise profit), People (firm’s societal impact), Planet (commitment to positive change environmentally)
How does this study contribute to previous literature? (list 1 out of 3 factors)
- broad overview of economic impacts (not the usual case studies on specific species)
- assembled the most comprehensive dataset on the ESA
- used data previously not considered, such as nationwide individual building permits and precisely geocoded permits for new construction
How many species did their dataset include?
900+, over 40 years
- Building activity was not affected in restricted areas (ie. protected areas)
- However, there was an increase in the time between the application and issuance of building permits and conservation plans (so longer delays)
List the IV limitations (there are 3 - 2 is fine)
- missing data
- omitted variable bias
- sample size in subgroup analyses
When is Sir David Attenborough's birthday (and/or how old is he)?
Hint: recent (hint: old)
8 May 1926 (he's 99)
What federal agencies are responsible for listing of SHs and designations of CHs?
FWS: US Fish and Wildlife Services
NMFW: US National Marine Fisheries Services
What assumption did they base their models on for causality?
Exogeneity (ESA is exogenous to local land markets)
What did they find at the species-level, and what are the implications of that finding?
A lot of heterogeneity in land market imapcts at the species-level, meaning impacts differ a lot from species to species
Implication: very low EV when focusing on species-level case studies (like previous literature tends to do)
How could the findings of the study be improved to improve its applicability to different contexts?
Use mixed methods, such as interviews or case studies
What is our lecturer's (Joeri Sol) son's name?
Anton
What does the literature (previously to this study) say about the impact of the ESA on land markets?
Previous literature generally found a negative impact of ESA restrictions on land markets, when looking at single species
What do the leads and lags in the DiD model test?
The parallel trends assumption, pretrends (for endogeneity and confounders)
The conclusion links the study back to the difficulties of making cost-benefit analyses for species protection. Give a brief summary of when we saw this in the course and how it is related
Week 3: Ecosystem Service Valuation
How does the study address their potential confounder issues?
Through leads and lags in the model testing for pretrends
What is the Social Cost of Carbon in the US?
50 dollars per metric ton (under Obama)