All Hail the European Economic Review!

In the ever important  battle for "journal impact factor", the European Economic Review will surely take a step forward now that it has published two of my papers in its July 2012 Special Issue titled Green Building, the Economy, and Public Policy Edited by Piet Eichholtz and John Quigley.  In case your subscription to the EER has lapsed, here are my titles and abstracts:



Understanding the Solar Home price premium: Electricity generation and “Green” social status ☆

  • Samuel R. Dastrupa, E-mail the corresponding author, 
  • Joshua Graff Zivinb, E-mail the corresponding author, 
  • Dora L. Costac, E-mail the corresponding author, 
  • Matthew E. Kahnd, Corresponding author contact information, E-mail the corresponding author


Abstract

This study uses a large sample of homes in the San Diego area and Sacramento, California area to provide some of the first capitalization estimates of the sales value of homes with solar panels relative to comparable homes without solar panels. Although the residential solar home market continues to grow, there is little direct evidence on the market capitalization effect. Using both hedonics and a repeat sales index approach we find that solar panels are capitalized at roughly a 3.5% premium. This premium is larger in communities with a greater share of college graduates and of registered Prius hybrid vehicles.


The nascent market for “green” real estate in Beijing

 Original Research Article
Pages 974-984
Siqi Zheng, Jing Wu, Matthew E. Kahn, Yongheng Deng

Abstract

In recent years, formal certification programs for rating and evaluating the sustainability and energy efficiency of buildings have proliferated around the world. Developers recognize that such “green labels” differentiate products and allow them to charge a price premium. China has not formally adopted such rating standards. In the absence of such standards, developers are competing with each other based on their own self-reported indicators of their buildings’ “greenness”. We create an index using Google search to rank housing complexes in Beijing with respect to their “marketing greenness” and document that these “green” units sell for a price premium at the presale stage but they subsequently resell or rent for a price discount. An introduction of a standardized official certification program would help “green” demanders to acquire units that they desire and would accelerate the advance of China’s nascent green real estate market.

Maybe I haven't retired from active research?