Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Hedonic Pricing of Climate Change Impacts to Households in Great Britain

  • Published:
Climatic Change Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study investigates the amenity value of climate to British households. By using the hedonic price approach, the marginal willingness to pay for small changes in climate variables is derived. Various indices of temperature and precipitation are used including means, ranges, extremes and January and July averages.

We specify one hedonic regression including information on house prices and wage data for 755 Posttowns and found the model containing January and July averages of temperature and precipitation most appropriate. The estimates suggest that British people would typically prefer higher temperatures in January. Increased precipitation in January is likely to reduce welfare. Changes in temperature and precipitation in July are not significant. Limited global warming, with a more pronounced effect of temperature increases compared to higher precipitation levels during winter months, might thus benefit British households.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bastian, C. T., McLeod, D. M., Germino, M. J., Reiners, W. A., and Blasko, B. J.: 2002, ‘Environmental amenities and agricultural land values: A hedonic model using geographic information systems data,’ Ecol. Econ. 40, 337–349.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blomquist, G. C., Berger, M. C., and Hoehn, J. P.: 1988, ‘New estimates of quality of life in urban areas,’ Am. Econ. Rev. 78, 89–107.

    Google Scholar 

  • Court, L. M.: 1941, ‘Entrepreneurial and consumer demand theory for commodity spectra,’ Econometrica 9, 135–162 and 241–297.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cragg, M. I. and Kahn, M. E.: 1997, ‘New estimates of climate demand: Evidence from location choice,’ J. Urban Econ. 42, 261–284.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cragg, M. I. and Kahn, M. E.: 1999, ‘Climate consumption and climate pricing from 1940 to 1990,’ Reg. Sci. Urban Econ. 29, 519–539.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cushing, B. J.: 1987, ‘A note on specification of climate variables in models of population migration,’ J. Reg. Sci. 27, 641–649.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Focas, C., Genty, P., and Murphy, P.: 1995, Top Towns: The Guinness Guide to Finding the Best Places to Live in the UK, Guinness Publishing Ltd., Enfield.

  • Freeman, A. M.: 1993, The Measurement of Environmental and Resource Values: Theory and Methods, Resources for the Future, Washington, DC.

  • Graves, P. E.: 1980, ‘Migration and climate,’ J. Reg. Sci. 20, 227–237.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Griliches, Z.: 1971, ‘Introduction: Hedonic price indexes revisited,’ in Griliches, Z. (ed.), Price Indexes and Quality Change, Oxford University Press, London, pp. 3–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harris, P. M., Highley, D. E., and Bentley, K. R.: 1991, Directory of Mines and Quarries 1991, 3rd Edn., British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham.

  • Harris, P. M., Highley, D. E., Hillier, J. A., and Whitwood, A.: 1994, Directory of Mines and Quarries 1994, 4th Edn., British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham.

  • Hoch, I. and Drake, J.: 1974, ‘Wages, climate, and the quality of life,’ J. Environ. Econ. Manage. 1, 268–295.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hulme, M., Jenkins, G. J., Lu, X., Turnpenny, J. R., Mitchell, T. D., Jones, R. G., Lowe, J., Murphy, J. M., Hassell, D., Boorman, P., McDonald, R., and Hill, S.: 2002, Climate Change Scenarios for the United Kingdom: The UKCIP02 Scientific Report, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, School of Environmental Science, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.

  • IPCC: 1998, The Regional Impacts of Climate Change: An Assessment of Vulnerability. A Special Report of IPCC Working Group II, in Watson, R. T., Zinyowera, M. C., Moss, R. H., and Dokken, D. J. (eds.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

  • IPCC: 2001, Climate Change 2001: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in McCarthy, J. J., Canziani, O. F., Leary, N. A., Dokken, D. J., and White, K. S. (eds.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

  • Lake, I. R., Lovett, A. A., Bateman, I. J., and Day, B.: 2000, ‘Using GIS and large-scale digital data to implement hedonic pricing studies’ Int. J. Geogr. Inform. Sci. 14, 521–541.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mäler, K.-G.: 1977, ‘A note on the use of property in estimating marginal willingness to pay for environmental quality,’ J. Environ. Econ. Manage. 4, 355–369.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maddison, D. J.: 2001, The Amenity Value of the Global Climate, Earthscan, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maddison, D. J.: 2003, ‘The amenity value of climate: The household production function approach,’ Resour. Energy Econ. 55, 155–175.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maddison, D. J. and Bigano, A.: 2003, ‘The amenity value of the Italian climate,’ J. Environ. Econ. Manage. 45, 319–332.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Navrud, S. (ed.): 1992, Pricing the European Environment, Oxford University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Navrud, S. and Vagnes, M.: 2000, Assessment of Environmental Valuation Reference Inventory (EVRI) and the Expansion of its Coverage to the EU: Report to the European Commission, DG XI, Environmental Consultants AS (ed.), Lysaker, Norway.

  • Nordhaus, W. D.: 1996, ‘Climate amenities and global warming,’ in Nakicenovic, N., Nordhaus, W. D., Richels, R., and Toth, F. (eds.), Climate Change: Integrating Science, Economics, and Policy, IIASA, Laxenburg, pp. 3–45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ordnance Survey: 1992, The Ordnance Survey Gazetteer Of Great Britain, 3rd Edn., Southampton.

  • Palmquist, R. B.: 1991, ‘Hedonic methods,’ in Braden, J. B., and Kolstad, C. D. (eds.), Measuring the Demand for Environmental Quality, Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 77–120.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rasmussen, D. W. and Zuehlke, T. W.: 1990, ‘On the choice of functional form for hedonic price functions,’ Appl. Econ. 22, 431–438.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ridker, R. G. and Henning, J. A.: 1967, ‘The determinants of residential property values with special reference to air pollution,’ Rev. Econ. Stat. 49, 246–257.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roback, J.: 1982, ‘Wages, rents, and the quality of life,’ J. Pol. Economy 90, 1257–1278.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosen, S.: 1974, ‘Hedonic prices and implicit markets: Product differentiation in pure competition,’ J. Pol. Economy 82, 34–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, V. K.: 1983, ‘The role of site and job characteristics in hedonic wage models,’ J. Urban Econ. 13, 296–321.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, V. K.: 1991, ‘Household production function and environmental benefit estimation, in Braden, J. B. and Kolstad, C. D. (eds.), Advances in Applied Microeconomics, pp. 105–122.

  • Steinnes, D. N. and Fisher, W. D.: 1974, ‘An econometric model of intraurban location,’ J. Reg. Sci. 14, 65–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Straszheim, M.: 1974, ‘Hedonic estimation of housing market prices: A further comment,’ Rev. Econ. Stat. 56, 404–406.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waugh, F. V.: 1929, Quality as a Determinant of Vegetable Prices: A Statistical Study of Quality Factors Influencing Vegetable Prices in the Boston Wholesale Market, Columbia University Press, New York.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Katrin Rehdanz.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Rehdanz, K. Hedonic Pricing of Climate Change Impacts to Households in Great Britain. Climatic Change 74, 413–434 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-006-3486-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-006-3486-5

Keywords

Navigation