Yuhui Jeong, a fourth-year doctoral candidate in energy, environmental and food economics at Penn State, will lead a seminar on housing prices amid regulations on food waste.
Her free talk - "The localized effects of food waste regulation on odor and property values: evidence from the Massachusetts commercial food waste ban" - will begin at noon on Wednesday, Sept. 17, in 157 Hosler Building at Penn State University Park. It's part of the fall seminar series hosted by the Initiative for Energy and Environmental Economics and Policy (EEEPI).
Jeong will discuss her study involving the 2014 Massachusetts Commercial Food Materials Disposal Ban, which prevents businesses and institutions above a certain threshold from sending commercial organic waste to landfills. Her analysis assessed outcomes in the housing market before and after the ban took effect.
"Results indicate that housing prices increased for homes closer to landfills, particularly in downwind areas, while no consistent effects are observed upwind or at greater distances," Jeong said. "These findings provide new causal evidence that food-waste diversion policies, although not designed to address odor directly, can improve local environmental quality and enhance residential welfare."
Jeong formerly worked with the African Development Bank's Climate Change and Green Growth Department and at ICLEI (Local Governments for Sustainability) Korea. Her research centers on ways that environmental risks and policy interventions influence housing markets and community welfare. She holds a master's degree in development policy from the KDI School of Public Policy and Management and a bachelor's degree in economics from Chung-Ang University, both in Korea.
About EEEPI
Established in 2011, EEEPI operates as a university-wide initiative at Penn State with support from the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute and the Institute of Energy and the Environment. EEEPI seeks to catalyze research in energy and environmental systems economics across the university and to build a world-class group of economists with interests in interdisciplinary collaboration.
