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Coastal Adaptation to Climate Change: Three Essays on the Economics of Disappearing Beaches

Qiu, Yun
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1468863602

Abstract Details

2016, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Agricultural, Environmental and Developmental Economics.
Coastal communities face increasing threat from climate change as sea level rise increases chronic shoreline erosion and more frequent storms lead to sporadic but huge damages. A natural conflict between eroding beaches and growing coastal development has led to active coastal management policy to stabilize shoreline and protect coastal property and infrastructure, including seawalls, jetties, and beach nourishment. Beach nourishment – the process of periodically rebuilding an eroding section of a beach with sand dredged from offshore sand reserves or inlets, is the dominant climate adaptation policy along the US Atlantic coastline. Whereas existing literature focuses on the valuation of beach amenities, the economic impact of adaptation policies is not well understood. This dissertation focuses on beach nourishment as a climate adaptation tool and examines (1) the impact capitalized in the coastal real estate market, (2) factors that determine the frequency of nourishment and (3) whether there is sorting across housing groups based on the expectation of beach stability. In the second chapter, we use a quasi-experimental approach to examine the capitalized effect of nourishment in northern Outer Banks, North Carolina and attempt to isolate storm protection effects from the amenity value of beach nourishment using the occurrence of Hurricane Sandy as a natural experiment. Results show that the benefits from widened beaches are capitalized by oceanfront and nearshore homes targeted by the nourishment project. We also find positive spillover effects in amenity values but the benefits of storm risk reduction are highly localized. Heterogeneity in the distribution of benefits across different locations motivates the need for spatially targeted polices to sustain shoreline stabilization. In the third chapter, we use a duration model to empirically test the influence of both supply and demand factors on the incidence of beach nourishment using data from coastal towns in North Carolina and New Jersey. We find that close access to sand reserves results in more frequent nourishment. Results also show that towns with high property values, high erosion rates, large shoreline lengths, and low elevation are likely to accelerate beach nourishment. These results complement findings in numerical models linking coastline change with economic decisions of beach nourishment (Smith, et al., 2009). As climate change induces sea-level rise and changing storm patterns, the demand for beach nourishment is increasing while the supply of nourishment quality sand is becoming scarce. Our findings motivate the need for beach towns to coordinate both the dredging of sand sources and where the sand is placed for effective coastal adaptation and efficient allocation of common pool sand resources. In the fourth chapter, we begin to examine sorting behavior across housing groups along the coast using a structural model. Households with different preferences and information (reflecting knowledge of coastal dynamics and expectations of management interventions) likely select distinct locations that offer the best price-quality tradeoff conditional on their information. Location decisions may depend on the expectation of beach stability rather than the current beach quality alone. We use a discrete choice model to examine the willingness to pay for beach nourishment across space using data of three coastal counties in North Carolina.
Sathya Gopalakrishnan (Advisor)
Alessandra Faggian (Committee Member)
Allen Klaiber (Committee Member)
142 p.
Economics; Environmental Economics; Public Policy

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Citations

  • Qiu, Y. (2016). Coastal Adaptation to Climate Change: Three Essays on the Economics of Disappearing Beaches [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1468863602

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Qiu, Yun. Coastal Adaptation to Climate Change: Three Essays on the Economics of Disappearing Beaches. 2016. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1468863602.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Qiu, Yun. "Coastal Adaptation to Climate Change: Three Essays on the Economics of Disappearing Beaches." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1468863602

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1468863602
812
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.