We estimate the effect of lake water quality on residential housing prices using cross-sectional data on water clarity from 113 lakes across the United States. An instrumental-variables approach is developed to address potential endogeneity bias in the water-clarity variable. Three lake-based physical variables serve as instrumental variables: total nitrogen concentration in lake water, total phosphorus concentration in lake water, and water temperature near the lake surface. The econometric results include three methodological findings: the instruments are valid and strong; the ordinary-least-squares estimate of the coefficient on the water-clarity variable is unbiased; and water clarity is the attribute of water quality valued in the housing market. The estimated water-clarity effect shows that a one-tenth of a meter change in water clarity leads to a one-percent change in housing price, or an elasticity of 0.20 at mean clarity. Coupling this effect with estimates of an ecological production function, a lake-specific benefit index is developed that shows the effect on housing values of bringing lakes into compliance with the US Environmental Protection Agency's regional recommendations for phosphorous concentration in lake waters.

中文翻译：

---

湖泊水质的特征价格估算：价值属性、工具变量和生态经济效益

我们使用来自美国 113 个湖泊的水清澈度的横截面数据来估计湖泊水质对住宅房价的影响。开发了一种工具变量方法来解决水透明度变量中潜在的内生性偏差。三个湖泊物理变量作为工具变量：湖水中总氮浓度、湖水中总磷浓度和湖面附近的水温。计量经济学结果包括三个方法论发现：工具是有效的和强大的；水透明度变量系数的普通最小二乘估计是无偏的；水质清澈度是住房市场重视的水质属性。估计的水净度效应表明，水净度的十分之一米变化会导致房价变化 1%，或平均净度为 0.20 的弹性。将这种影响与生态生产函数的估计相结合，开发了一个特定于湖泊的效益指数，该指数显示了使湖泊符合美国环境保护署关于湖水中磷浓度的区域建议对住房价值的影响。