Work

The value of cabin-based outdoor recreation: Evidence from a natural experiment

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Use-values of nonmarket environmental amenities are often elicited by studying the demand for outdoor recreation, and credible value estimates are essential for designing efficient policies affecting the supply of such goods. Yet rigorous causal identification of outdoor recreation demand remains limited. Our study contributes to the growing literature on taking causal inference techniques and GPS-based observational data sources to the field of valuation of nonmarket environmental amenities. We exploit a sharp increase in electricity prices in Norway following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 as a natural experiment to study the price sensitivity of cabin-based outdoor recreation. Using activity traces from the training app Strava spatially merged with geolocated cabin sites, we find a 15% decline in cabin recreation following the price shock. From this response, we infer an average consumer surplus of approximately $6,000 per cabin owner per year, equivalent to about $204 per use-day, and a price elasticity of −0.24, indicating inelastic demand. These findings point to considerable welfare benefits from cabin recreation and illustrate the value of combining quasi-experimental designs with high-frequency mobility data for valuation of nonmarket environmental amenities.

Source: Journal of Environmental Economics and Management

DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103243

Authors: Andreas Skulstad, Erlend Dancke Sandorf, Zander Venter, Anders Dugstad

Institutions: Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Statistics Norway

Language: English

Topic: Economic and Environmental Valuation

Subfield: Economics and Econometrics

Field: Economics, Econometrics and Finance

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Sustainable cities and communities

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,620