Research Areas

Applied Microeconomics, Housing/Real Estate/Urban Economics, Public Economics, Taxation, Environmental Valuation & Accounting

Full CV from the homepage

Peer Reviewed Publications 
Journal Articles

• “Toxic Assets: How the Housing Market Responds to Environmental Information Shocks” with N. Sanders and J. Moulton, Land Economics,  Vol. 100 (1), 2024. 
• “When Do Property Taxes Matter? Tax Salience and Heterogeneous Policy Effects” with J. Moulton, M. Gindelsky, and K. Wentland. Journal of Housing Economics, Vol. 61, 2023.
• “Why Disclose Less Information? Toward Resolving a Disclosure Puzzle in the Housing Market” with X. Bian, J. Contat, and B. Waller. Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics,  Vol. 66 (2), 2023.
• “Real Effects of Tax Uncertainty: Evidence from Firm Capital Investments” with K. Wentland and M. Jacob. Management Science,  Vol. 68 (6), 2022.
• “Mitigating Agency Costs in the Housing Market” with G. Turnbull and B. Waller, Real Estate Economics, Vol. 50 (3) 2022.
• "Foreclosure Externalities and Home Liquidity" with X. Bian, R. Brastow, and B. Waller. Real Estate Economics, Vol. 49(3) 2021 
• "This Old House: Historical Restoration as a Neighborhood Amenity" with G. Turnbull, B. Waller, W. Witschey, and V. Zahirovic-Herbert, Land Economics, Vol. 95(2) 2019.
• "Who Benefits from Targeted Property Tax Relief? Evidence from Virginia Elections" with J. Moulton and B. Waller, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 37(2) 2018.
• "Temporally Dynamic Externalities and Real Estate Liquidity" with R. Brastow and B. Waller, Journal of Real Estate Research, 40(2) 2018.
• "The Role of Transaction Costs in Impeding Market Exchange in Real Estate," with X. Bian and B. Waller, Journal of Housing Research, 25(2) 2016.
• "How Many Listings are Too Many? Agent Listing Externalities and the Residential Housing Market," with X. Bian, G. Turnbull, and B. Waller, Journal of Housing Economics, Vol. 28 2015.
• "Estimating the Effect of Crime Risk on Property Values and Time on Market: Evidence from Megan's Law in Virginia," with B. Waller and R. Brastow, Real Estate Economics, 42(1) 2014.
• "Not in my Backyard: The Effect of Substance Abuse Treatment Centers on Property Values" with C. LaRoche and B. Waller, Journal of Sustainable Real Estate, Vol. 6 2014.
• "Political Beliefs and Tort Awards: Evidence of Rationally Political Jurors from Two Data Sets," Review of Law & Economics, 8(3) 2012.
  

Other Publications (Chapters, Special Issue Articles, Short Articles/Correspondence, Pedagogical Articles, etc.)

• “Accounting for Environmental Activity: Measuring Public Environmental Expenditures and the Environmental Goods and Services Sector in the U.S.” with J. Hass, T. Highfill, D. Fixler, and K. Wentland.  
  • Forthcoming as a chapter for the 2023 NBER-CRIW volume on “Measuring and Accounting for Environmental Public Goods: A National Accounts Perspective” (edited by Nicholas Muller, Mary Bohman, and Eli Fenichel)
  • NBER Working Paper #31574
• “Statistics: unify ecosystems valuation” with N. Brown, A. Femia, D. Fixler, O. Gravgård, S. Kaumanns, G. P. Oneto, S. Schürz, and F. Tubiello.  Nature, 593 (341), 2021. 
• “Neighborhood Sorting Dynamics in Real Estate: Evidence from the Virginia Sex Offender Registry” with X. Bian, R. Brastow, M. Stoll, and B. Waller: Chapter 3 in Joshua Hall, Kerianne Lawson, and Jacob Shia (eds.), Measuring Amenities and Disamenties in the Housing Market: Applications of the Hedonic Model. Morgantown: Regional Research Institute, 2021.
• “Accounting for Land in the U.S.: Integrating Physical Land Cover, Land Use, and Monetary Valuation” with Z. Ancona, J. Boyd, K. Bagstad, J. Hass, M. Gindelsky, J. Moulton. Ecosystem Services, vol. 46, 2020.
  • Special issue on natural capital accounting in the EU and US
• “Integrating Physical and Economic Data into Experimental Water Accounts for the United States: Lessons and Opportunities” with K. Bagstad, Z. Ancona, J. Hass, P. Glynn, M. Vardon, and J. Fay. Ecosystems Services, vol. 45, 2020.
  • Special issue on natural capital accounting in the EU and US
• "Valuing Housing Services in the Era of Big Data: A User Cost Approach Leveraging Zillow Microdata" with M. Gindelsky and J. Moulton. 2019 NBER-CRIW Volume on Big Data for 21st Century Economic Statistics. 
• “The Natural Capital Accounting Opportunity: Let’s Really Do the Numbers,” BioScience, 68(12) 2018. With J. Boyd, K. Bagstad, J.C. Ingram, C. Shapiro, J. Adkins, F. Casey, C. Duke, P. Glynn, E. Goldman, M Grasso, J. Hass, J. Johnson, G.M. Lange, J. Matuszak, A. Miller, K. Oleson, S. Posner, C. Rhodes, F. Soulard, M. Vardon, F. Villa, and B. Voigt
• "Marketing during a Recession: An Illustration of How Economic Principles Guide Marketing Approaches," with M. Marks and A. O'Connor, Journal for Economic Educators, 14 (1) 2014.
  

Current Research (Updated November 2024)

(*Some of these may have been presented under a different title at a conference/seminar/workshop - see my CV on the home page for the list of academic presentations)

Working Papers  

• “It’s the Smell: How Resolving Uncertainty about Local Disamenties Affects the Housing Market” G. Cornwall and J. Chen
  • Revisions requested, Land Economics
• “For What It’s Worth: Measuring Land Value in the Era of Big Data and Machine Learning” with G. Cornwall and J. Moulton
• “Returns to Homeownership and Inequality: Evidence from the First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit” with M. Gindelsky, J. Moulton, and K. Wentland
• “Minding Ps and Qs of Natural Capital Accounting: Sorting Out Prices and Sustainability Concepts” with C. Obst and E. Fenichel 
  • Under review
• “When the Price is Right: Home Value Misperception and Measurement of Wealth Disparities” with M. Gindelsky and P. Carrillo 
• “Let’s Make a Deal: Local Business Incentives and Home Prices” with A. Bailey and J. Moulton
• “Monetary Policy and the Housing Market” with J. Moulton and G. Cornwall
•  “District Randomization and the Problem of Political Social Cost” with P. Stone
  

Works in Progress 

• “When the Levy Breaks: School Levies, Public Goods, and the Housing Market” with G. Cornwall, J. Moulton, and B. Sauley
• “Segment Reporting Trade-Offs for Financial Reporting” M. Cobabe, B. Johnson, & K. Wentland
• “Timber Valuation from Forestry Microdata: Lessons from Developing a Pilot Timber Asset Account for the U.S.” with C. Mihiar, T. Brandeis, S. Bruck, J. Hass, R. Mei, and T. Warziniack
• “Measuring Climate Mitigation and Adaptation Expenditures in the U.S. Economy” with J. Hass, T. Highfill, and D. Fixler
• “Real Estate Markets in the Wake of Kelo: Empirical Evidence from Changes to Eminent Domain Law" with G. Cornwall, L. Krasnozhon, and J. Moulton