Externalities of Nuclear Power Plants: Further Evidence

Several prior studies found no detrimental external effects of nuclear power plants when estimating the distance gradient for housing prices within a hedonic model. Other papers found significant negative effects of nuclear power when studying real asset prices in cross sections of broad market areas.We suggest a resolution and verify that an installation effect occurs after controlling for the tendency of facility builders to seek out cheap land. The study assembles a panel of all commercial market areas, including indicators for nuclear facilities, in the contiguous United States observed 11 times over roughly equal intervals covering the span from 1945 to 1992.