Measuring Long-term Effects of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident on Real Estate Prices

Abstract

The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident was caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake in March, 2011. Widespread areas in eastern Japan were contaminated by the huge release of radioactive materials. We analyze the long-term effects of the accident on land prices by estimating the hedonic equation with regional fixed effects. Our estimation results show that the soil contamination by cesium-134/137 affected the surrounding land prices negatively; however, this effect disappeared after only one year. This implies that we should discreetly interpret the results in estimating the cost of the Fukushima nuclear accident by the hedonic approach.