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George L. Van Houtven

Expertise

Environmental Economics
Nonmarket Valuation
Health Valuation
Meta-Analysis

Biography

George Van Houtven, PhD, specializes in the measurement of environmental, health, and natural resource values and the application of these measures to evaluate environmental and risk management policies. He has extensive experience in conducting original nonmarket valuation research, including the application of contingent valuation, conjoint analysis, averting behavior, and cost-of-illness methods. He also specializes in meta-regression analysis and other benefit transfer methods that synthesize results from existing research to support policy analysis. He has coordinated several interdisciplinary studies that link environmental and economic models and that apply benefit transfer approaches to support cost-benefit analyses of environmental regulations. He has also conducted research to examine the effectiveness of unit-based pricing policies for solid waste management, and he has analyzed the role of cost-benefit factors in environmental regulatory decision-making. His research has been published in several journals including the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Land Economics, and Environmental and Natural Resource Economics.

Education

PhD, Economics, University of Maryland; BA, Economics, Johns Hopkins University.

Selected Publications

Smith, V.K., & Van Houtven, G. (2004). Recovering Hicksian consumer surplus within a collective model: Hausman's method for the household. Environmental & Resource Economics, 28 (2):153-167.

Smith, V.K., Pattanayak, S.K., & Van Houtven, G.L. (2003). VSL reconsidered: what do labor supply estimates reveal about risk preferences? Economics Letters, 80 (2):147-153.

Smith, V.K., Van Houtven, G., & Pattanayak, S.K. (2002). Benefit transfer via preference calibration: 'Prudential algebra' for policy. Land Economics, 78 (1):132-152.

Mansfield, C., Van Houtven, G.L., & Huber, J. (2002). Compensating for public harms: Why public goods are preferred to money. Land Economics, 78 (3):368-389.

Van Houtven, G.L., & Morris, G.E. (1999). Household behavior under alternative pay-as-you-throw systems for solid waste disposal. Land Economics, 75 (4):515-537.

Groothuis, P.A., Van Houtven, G., & Whitehead, J.C. (1998). Using contingent valuation to measure the compensation required to gain community acceptance of a LULU: The case of hazardous waste disposal facility. Public Finance Review, 26 (3):231-249.

Van Houtven, G.L. (1997). Altruistic preferences for life-saving public programs: Do baseline risks matter. Risk Analysis, 17 (1):81-92.

Gupta, S., Van Houtven, G., & Cropper, M. (Autumn, 1996). Paying for Permanence: An Economic Analysis of EPA's Cleanup Decisions at Superfund Sites. Rand Journal of Economics, 27 (3):563-582.

Van Houtven, G.L., & Cropper, M.L. (1996 May). When Is a Life Too Costly to Save? The Evidence from U.S. Environmental Regulations. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 30 (3):348-368.

Danielson, L.R., Hoban, T., Van Houtven, G.L., & Whitehead, J.C. (1995). Measuring the benefits of local public goods: Environmental quality in Gaston County, North Carolina. Applied Economics, 27:1253-1260.

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