91制片厂

How can you put a price tag on the benefits of cleaning up the air, shoring up diminishing water supplies, or producing less garbage? It鈥檚 not easy; but it鈥檚 absolutely vital, as one of the biggest challenges in setting policy to pursue sustainability goals is assessing the economic value of the benefits of nonmarket goods. Paul College Professor of Economics Ju-Chin Huang and her colleagues far and wide are doing just that: providing a body of reliable and credible data that鈥檚 helping policy makers answer these and other questions.听

Huang is internationally recognized for her theoretical and applied work in environmental valuation, which refers to things that lack a price tag 鈥� such as clean air, available water, and healthy ecosystems 鈥� but have economic value. To determine economic values of nonmarket goods, Huang uses either direct or indirect methods.听

鈥淚n the direct method, you just ask people how much听they would be willing to pay,鈥� explains Huang.听

For example, in one study of managing erosion of sandy beaches on Plum Island, Massachusetts, Huang鈥檚 team surveyed local residents to see how much they鈥檇 be willing to pay for different management options and outcomes.听

鈥淲e learned that in addition to beach preservation and property protection, citizens would pay extra for management options that would also protect and preserve wildlife habitat,鈥� she says.听听

The indirect method determines economic values of nonmarket goods based on the consumption of related private goods. In multiple studies, Huang used housing markets to learn how property values were shaped by air quality and estimated the premiums homeowners were willing to pay for houses in areas with cleaner air.听

Most recently, she and 91制片厂 colleague John Halstead, professor of environmental economics, and Christopher Wright, adjunct professor at Montana State University, evaluated 180 New Hampshire towns to determine economic incentives for reducing garbage levels. They discovered that those using 鈥減ay-as-you-throw鈥� trash disposal programs reduced garbage levels by 42 to 54 percent.听听

鈥淚t costs towns a lot to process garbage, tying up funds that could go to other things,鈥� Huang says. 鈥淚n this instance, towns created a market for waste disposal and charged for being in it, so people recycled more and produced less trash. Bottom line: the program works!鈥澨�听

The author and co-author of dozens of peer-reviewed articles appearing in top journals, Huang has been selected to be the new holder of Paul College鈥檚 most distinguished endowed professorship, the James R. Carter Professorship.听

RECENT SELECTED PUBLIC ATIONS听

Wright, C., Halstead, J. M., & Huang, J., (2019). Estimating treatment effects of unit-based pricing of household solid waste disposal.听Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, 48.听

Mo, W., Lu, Z.听Dilkina, B. Gardner, K., Huang, J., & Foreman, M., (2018). Sustainable and resilient design of interdependent water and energy systems: a conceptual modeling framework for tackling complexities at the infrastructure-human-resources nexus.听Sustainability, 10.听

Wei, S. & Huang, J., (2018). Correcting on-site sampling bias: a new method with application to recreation demand analysis.听Land Economics, 94.听

Huang, J., Shaw, D.,听Chien, Y., & Zhao, M. (2016). Valuing public goods through demand for related commodities.听American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 98.听