Abstract: How do consumers respond to changes in risk or perceived risk? This question is

often difficult to answer because there are relatively few events that make the underlying

risk salient. In this paper, I exploit a quasi-natural experiment with changes in FEMA’s

flood maps and estimate how a change in flood zone status affects housing prices in

Miami-Dade County. Using newly digitized flood insurance maps and a newly created

parcel-level dataset of the universe of single family home sales from 1995 - 2019, I find

homes that were mapped into a flood zone experienced an average 14.7 percent decline

in sales price, while homes that were mapped out of flood zone experienced an average

-5.8 percent decline in sales price. Distance matters, the flood risk discount increases

with distance to the old flood zone boundary for homes that were mapped into a flood

zone. The effect is also long lasting; up to seven years after the map update, homes

that were mapped into a flood zone continue to experience a significant decline in sales

price.

Abstract: How do consumers value environmental cleanup? To answer this question, I examine

a hazardous waste remediation program in Florida. Using the list of cleanup sites, a newly created parcel-level dataset of the universe of single family home sales in Florida from 1995 - 2019, and a wide range of controls, I estimate a difference-in-differences model and analyze the value consumers place on the disamenity of proximity to a hazardous waste site. I do not find any significant changes in housing value after a contaminated property is added to the state cleanup list; however, I find a significant decline in housing prices (-6.77 percent) once remediation is complete and the site is removed from the state list.

There are many challenges in establishing a causal link between lead exposure and crime. In this paper, I use a natural experiment where a large stock car racing company replaced its leaded gasoline with unleaded gasoline. Using the universe of racing data from the NASCAR racing series and the offender database from the Florida Department of Corrections, I will be able to provide causal estimates for the impact of lead exposure on contemporaneous crime.