Essays in the economics of energy development and disamenities

dc.contributor.advisor John A. Miranowski
dc.contributor.advisor Peter F. Orazem
dc.contributor.author Rakitan, Timothy
dc.contributor.department Department of Economics (LAS)
dc.date 2018-08-12T06:27:08.000
dc.date.accessioned 2020-06-30T03:09:25Z
dc.date.available 2020-06-30T03:09:25Z
dc.date.copyright Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 UTC 2017
dc.date.embargo 2001-01-01
dc.date.issued 2017-01-01
dc.description.abstract <p>This dissertation consists of three essays broadly themed around evaluating the impact of energy infrastructure on local consumers and industries. Taken together, they characterize ways in which the presence of energy activity is reflected in local land and labor market conditions, with a particular focus on the deployment of wind energy generation and shale resource extraction.</p> <p>The first chapter examines the relationship between the placement of wind energy infrastructure and house values and incomes in Iowa. The results suggest that income growth offsets some of the negative house-value effects commonly observed in the evaluation literature, but also that income gains reported in the literature are geographically distributed away from wind farm locations. I conclude that proximity to wind turbines does not increase the real incomes of local residents.</p> <p>The second chapter applies a regional model to county-level wage, house value, employment and energy production data to characterize the economic impact of the U.S. shale boom of the mid-2000s. While the boom has been responsible for wage and employment gains in counties located within the bounds of U.S. shale oil and gas plays, the net effect on house values has been negative. Within the set of energy-producing counties, however, house value declines are mitigated during the boom period as willingness-to-pay for residential space can overcome some of the the negative impacts of energy industry activity. I conclude that shale energy extraction is a disamenity at the local level.</p> <p>The third chapter extends the analysis of the impact of the shale boom by examining possible spillovers in agriculture. Using parcel-level data from North Dakota, I analyze rental rates to assess the extent to which oil industry activity affects the returns to agricultural land. While “on-shale” parcels lease at lower rates than parcels located outside the oil fields, I cannot reject the hypothesis that proximity to an oil well has no impact on returns to agricultural land. Since my data examine agricultural surface rents with no associated mineral rights, my results imply that fracking-related house value declines reported in the literature may be due to aesthetic and nuisance considerations rather than lasting local environmental damage.</p>
dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
dc.identifier archive/lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/16200/
dc.identifier.articleid 7207
dc.identifier.contextkey 11457159
dc.identifier.doi https://doi.org/10.31274/etd-180810-5829
dc.identifier.s3bucket isulib-bepress-aws-west
dc.identifier.submissionpath etd/16200
dc.identifier.uri https://dr.lib.iastate.edu/handle/20.500.12876/30383
dc.language.iso en
dc.source.bitstream archive/lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/16200/Rakitan_iastate_0097E_16852.pdf|||Fri Jan 14 20:56:40 UTC 2022
dc.subject.disciplines Agricultural and Resource Economics
dc.subject.disciplines Economics
dc.subject.disciplines Natural Resource Economics
dc.subject.keywords Disamenities
dc.subject.keywords Energy development
dc.subject.keywords Hydraulic fracturing
dc.subject.keywords Renewable energy
dc.subject.keywords Wind energy
dc.title Essays in the economics of energy development and disamenities
dc.type dissertation
dc.type.genre dissertation
dspace.entity.type Publication
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication 4c5aa914-a84a-4951-ab5f-3f60f4b65b3d
thesis.degree.discipline Economics
thesis.degree.level dissertation
thesis.degree.name Doctor of Philosophy
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