Environmental Hazard and Residential Value, Location and Dispersion

This paper provides microeconomic foundations to the relationship between the values of residential properties and the environmental quality of their location. It constructs an environmental–quality-adjusted lifetime-utility function by combining satisfaction from consumption over the lifespan with risk to life from living in an environmentally hazardous location. It employs this utility function to analyse willingness to pay for environmental quality, choice of location and residential dispersion and its relationship with income distribution.