Externalities of Nuclear Power Plants: Further Evidence

Abstract: Nelson (1981), Gamble and Downing (1982) and Clark et al. (1997) found no detrimental external effects of nuclear power plants when studying the distance gradient for housing prices within a hedonic model. Other papers, Clark and Nieves (1994) and Folland and Hough (1991), found significant negative effects of nuclear power when studying real asset prices in cross-sections of broad market areas. The present research verifies that an installation effect occurs after controlling for the tendency of facility builders to seek out cheap land. The study assembles a large panel of all commercial market areas in the contiguous United States observed 11 times over roughly equal intervals covering the span from 1945 to 1992.