Abstract: Noise pollution from airplanes can reduce property values by creating a disamenity for residents. Jasdeep estimates the effect of noise pollution on residential properties in the Phoenix metropolitan area, using quasi-random changes in commercial flight paths to and from Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. Then, he estimates the parameters of a residential sorting model with heterogeneous preferences over noise and other amenities. The identifying variation comes from the unexpected implementation of new flight paths and instruments for time-varying housing prices. He finds that the average marginal willingness to pay to avoid noise pollution is $3,038 per dB (decibel) and varies from $2,500 to $3,500 per dB, based on household demographics. A Pigouvian tax on airplane passengers to compensate residents for noise pollution is approximately $16 per one-way flight, three times the carbon tax for a one-way trip from New York to San Francisco.
Bio: Jasdeep Mandia is an environmental and urban economist currently working as a postdoctoral associate at the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research (CEEPR) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He earned his Ph.D. in Economics from Arizona State University. His research focuses on household amenity valuation, residential sorting, and environmental justice, with topics including noise pollution, wildfire, electricity, water access, and particulate matter. Before his Ph.D., Jasdeep gained research experience in India, working with organizations such as J-PAL and UChicago EPIC. He also worked with the World Bank.