In my dissertation, I measure the value of non-market amenities such as environmental quality using the hedonic pricing method in all three chapters. In Chapter 2, the study examines the price premium from Korea's Energy Efficiency Grade Label. The Korean government recently began energy certification of televisions, providing a setting to analyze a possible price effect of the new label. Hedonic regression results seem to show that a price premium exists for products with the Energy Efficiency Grade Label. However, potential unobserved heterogeneity is a concern. Difference-in-difference and fixed-effects models are used to capture the net effect of the label by controlling for time and product differences. The results suggest that any price premium does not result from the energy efficiency label itself. Instead, energy-efficient products already had higher prices before the introduction of the energy efficiency label. The finding turns our attention to the importance of careful design of labeling programs. In Chapter 3, using the publicly available housing transaction data in Korea, the study estimates a fixed-effects model to examine the impact of industrial park openings on the housing market in Korea. This study contributes to the literature in three ways. First, the availability of multiple transactions within apartment complexes makes it feasible to carry out a fixed-effects estimation and address unobserved heterogeneity across apartment complexes. Second, I trace the effect on housing values from the announcement stage to actual operation stage of industrial parks. Third, although most previous studies analyze U.S. housing market, I examine the Korean housing market. I find that people in general have positive expectations about parks opening at the time of announcement, but they do not want to be located in close proximity to the park. Furthermore, the housing price effects of announcement and actual start of operation differ. Local households react positively to the news of industrial park openings and remain positive by the time parks begin operation, but households in close proximity to industrial parks react relatively less positively at the time of announcement, and the decline in price premium becomes greater once parks begin operation. In Chapter 4, I examine the price effect of the Fukushima nuclear accident on the Korean housing market. The Fukushima nuclear disaster triggered by the earthquake and tsunami was an unfortunate accident that is recorded as the worst nuclear accident since the Chernobyl accident. Given the proximity of South Korea to Japan, Koreans were particularly more concerned about the severity of the accident and its environmental and health impacts. Uncertain events such as the Fukushima nuclear accident may cause households to re-evaluate the likelihood of environmental hazard and decrease the values of housing units that are located near the facilities. Current study analyzes how the Korean housing market responds to the Fukushima nuclear disaster, using publicly available housing transactions data. The study compares the prices of apartments located in the nuclear plant-possessing districts with those of the apartments located in adjacent districts. The results indicate that in reaction to the news of disaster in Japan, housing prices decreased radically in those districts with nuclear power plants.
Subject (authority = RUETD)
Topic
Economics
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = RULIB)
ETD
Identifier
ETD_8224
PhysicalDescription
Form (authority = gmd)
electronic resource
InternetMediaType
application/pdf
InternetMediaType
text/xml
Extent
1 online resource (ix, 68 p. : ill.)
Note (type = degree)
Ph.D.
Note (type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Valuation
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Hedonic damages
Note (type = statement of responsibility)
by Ju Young Park
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
School of Graduate Studies Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = local)
rucore10001600001
Location
PhysicalLocation (authority = marcorg); (displayLabel = Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.