Kevin J. Boyle
- Willis Blackwood Professor Emeritus, Blackwood Department of Real Estate
Virginia Tech Professor Kevin Boyle
Blacksburg, VA
24060
After serving as head of the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, I was the founding head of one of the top real estate academic programs. The Blackwood Department of Real Estate is ranked first by the Bachelor’s Degree Center and third by Great Business Schools among the nation’s top undergraduate real estate programs. CollegeRaptor ranks Virginia Tech as the 6th Best College for Real Estate in the U.S. for 2026, and NICHE ranks Virginia Tech 10th among the 2026 Best Colleges with Real Estate Degrees in America.
My research focuses on improving methods to measure nonmarket values and to elicit preferences. One of my specialties is the estimation of property-value models to understand how amenities and disamenities affect real estate market values.
I have studied the property value impacts of air pollution, forest pest infestations, surface and groundwater quality, urban stormwater infrastructure, tree cover, and other applications. I also work with stated-preference methods (contingent valuation and choice modeling), other revealed-preference methods (travel-cost models and averting behavior), and benefit transfers.
Applications of my research include surface and groundwater, land use, forest health, climate change, marine resources, and health. I have participated in numerous projects throughout the U.S. and in Canada, Chile, Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Chile, and India.
I was listed as one of the Top 100 People in Real Estate for 2022, and am a Fellow of both the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association and the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
To learn more about my work, click on the information below.
Expertise:
- Environmental and natural resource economics
- Food and health economics
- Real estate economics
Education
- Ph.D. Agricultural Economics, University of Wisconsin
- M.S. Agricultural and Resource Economics, Oregon State University
- B.A. Economics, Distinction, University of Maine
My primary specialty is the development of methods to estimate nonmarket values, for which I am a co-editor of A Primer on Nonmarket Valuation and the author of “Contingent Valuation in Practice”. Much of my current research focuses on estimating property-value models to understand how amenities and disamenities affect real estate market values. I am a coauthor of seminal articles on the state of the art for stated-preference methods, property-value modeling and benefit-transfer procedures, as well as “Reliability and Validity in Nonmarket Valuation”.
One area of research applications includes the valuation of freshwater resources, both surface water and groundwater. I studied the effects of nonpoint-source pollution on lakes at numerous locations around the U.S., arsenic in groundwater in Maine and Bangladesh, stream riparian restoration in Sydney, AU, horticulture growers’ avoidance of pathogens in irrigation water, water purchases from irrigators in the Macquarie Marshes, and AU, urban stormwater infrastructure. These are in addition to numerous other terrestrial, air, and human health applications.
- Sreeya Brahma, Graduate Student, Architecture, Virginia Tech
- Mallory Phillps
- Kristen Swedberg, Ph.D. student, Economics, Virginia Tech
- Katie Stump, Manager, Science Policy, CropLife America
- Wesley Johnson, Forest Planning Analyst, American Forest Management, Inc.
- Laura Dodson, Agricultural Economist, U.S Department of Agriculture
- Nicole D’Alessio, Insights Business Analyst, LivePerson
- Jessica Boatwright, Community Agribusiness Advisor, Peace Corps, Uganda
- Elizabeth Heier
- David Hartter, Sr. Research and Development Manage, Newell Brands
- Harry Fuller, Supervisory Mathematical Statistician, U.S. Census Bureau
- Nilam Prasai, Data Curator, IFPRI
- Bradley Neumann, Senior Extension Educator, Michigan State University
- Semra Özdemir Van Dyk, Assistant Professor, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore (The Norris Charles Clements Graduate Award, Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station Research Council)
- Jessica Sargent-Michaud, Director of Conservation Economics, The Trust for Public Land
- Robert Paterson, Principal, IEC.
- Tommy Hsu, Water Quality Department Manager, Hunsaker & Associates
- Genevieve (Pullis) La Rouch, Field Supervisor, Chesapeake Bay Field Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- Jennifer Schuetz, Executive Director, Fractal Foundation
- Brian Harris
- Shelly Phillips, IT Business Analyst
- Steve Lawson, Senior Director, Public Lands Planning and Management, RSG, Inc.
- Margaret Schneemann, Water Resource Economist, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant Program
- Holly (James) Michael, Senior Economist, W.H Desvousges & Associates (Dow-Griffee Award, Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station)
- Marcia L. Phillips
- Ramona El Hamzoui, Deputy Mission Director, USAID, India
- Deanna Jalbert, Librarian, Maine School Administrative District 27
- John Westra, J. Nelson Fairbanks Endowed Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics & Agribusiness, Louisiana State University
- Kristen Swedberg, Postdoctoral Fellow in Sustainability and Public Policy, SUNY Binghamton
- Xiang Cao, Associate Professor, School of Economics, Sichuan University
- Jessica Agnew, Associate Director, CALS Global, Virginia Tech
- Weizhe Weng, Assistant Professor at SUNY Geneseo
- Weibin Xu, Senior Analyst-Enterprise Optimization, United Airlines, Chicago, IL
- Shyamani Siriwardena, Post-doctoral Researcher, Virginia Tech
- Yuan Yuan, Data Scientist, Convoy Inc., Seattle, WA
- Xiaoshu Li, Associate Professor, School of Maritime Economics and Management, Dalian Maritime University
- Sapna Kaul, Assistant Professor of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
- Congwen Zhang
- Ewa Kleczyk, Vice President, Client Analytics, Symphony Health Solutions. Philadelphia, PA
- Sonia Aziz, Associate Professor, Moravian College
- Shyamani Siriwardena, Post-doctoral Researcher, Virginia Tech
- Prasenjit Sarkhel, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Kalyani University, Nadia, West Bengal, India
- David Scrogin, Associate Professor, Department of Economics, University of Central Florida
- P. Joan Poor, Provost, Upper Iowa University
- Brian Roach, Senior Research Associate, Tufts Global Development and Environment Institute
Current Projects (PI or co-PI)
None at this time.
Experience
- Willis Blackwood Professor Emeritus, Blackwood Department of Real Estate, Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech, September 2025 to present.
- Department Head Emeritus, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech, September 2005 to present.
- Willis Blackwood Professor, Blackwood Department of Real Estate, Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech, August 2024 to August 2025.
- Willis Blackwood Head, Blackwood Department of Real Estate, Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech, November 2022 to August 2024.
- Founding Director, Blackwood Program in Real Estate, Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech, April 2012 to October 2022.
- Professor and Head, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech, September 2005 to March 2012.
- Professor, Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech, September 2005 to August 2025.
- Chair, Department of Resource Economics and Policy, University of Maine, June 2003 to August 2005.
- Libra Professor of Environmental Economics, Department of Resource Economics and Policy, Department of Wildlife Ecology, and Ecology and Environmental Sciences Program, University of Maine. September 1997 to August 2002.
Selected Awards
- ScholarGPS ranks Dr. Boyle in the top 0.3 percent across all fields, top 0.2 percent among agricultural economists, and top 0.4 percent of environmental economists, 2025.
- Career Award for Excellence in Research, Pamplin College of Business, 2025
- Top 100 People in Real Estate for 2022
- Alumni Award for Research Excellence, Virginia Tech, 2021
- Fellow, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, 2019
- Faculty Alumni Engagement Award, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Virginia Tech, 2019
- Fellow, Association of Environmental and Resource Economics, 2018
- Academy of Faculty Leadership, Virginia Tech, 2018
- ·Service Award, Land, Water, and Environmental Economics Section, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, 2015
- Publication of Merit, Environmental and Resource Economics, 2014. Boyle, Kevin J., Christopher C. Parmeter, Bent Boehlert, and Robert Paterson. 2013. “Due Diligence in Meta-Analyses to Support Benefit Transfers.” Environmental and Resource Economics, Vol. 55 (3): 357-386.
- U.S. Professor of the Year, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and Council for Advancement and Support of Education, 2004
- Distinguished Maine Professor, University of Maine, 2003
- Distinguished Member, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, 2002
- Presidential Research and Creative Achievement Award, University of Maine, 2001
Selected Publications
Journal Articles
Siriwardena, Shyamani, Kevin J. Boyle and Thomas P. Holmes. 2025. “Capitalization of urban tree cover: An internal meta-analysis” Ecological Economics, Vol. 238: 108709. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0921800925001922?via%3Dihub)
Phillips, M. K.J. Boyle and K. Swedberg. 2025. “Valuation of Forested River Riparian Buffers: Support for Riverine Integrity and Climate Resilience.” Forest Policy and Economics, Vol. 170: 103406. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1389934124002600)
Nusrat, Farah, Ali S. Akanda, Abdullah Islam, Sonia Aziz, Emily L. Pakhtigian, Kevin Boyle and, Manzoor Hanifi. 2024. “Satellite-Derived, Smartphone-Delivered Geospatial Cholera Risk Information for Vulnerable Populations.” GeoHealth, Vol. 8 (11): e2024GH001039 (https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2024GH001039)
Pakhtigian, Emily L., Sonia Aziz, Kevin Boyle, Ali S. Akanda and Manzoor Hanifi. 2024. “Early warning systems, mobile technology, and cholera aversion: Evidence from rural Bangladesh.” Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Vol. 125 (https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/journal-of-environmental-economics-and-management/vol/125/suppl/C .
Thomy, Buyani, Rosalind Bark, Mark Morrison, Phillip Birtles, Kevin Boyle and Roderick Duncan. 2024. “Investigating revealed preferences for urban waterway conditions: A hedonic property valuation study.” Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Vol. 68 (2): 253-269. (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-8489.12561).
Weng, Weizhe, Kelly M. Cobourn, Armen R. Kemanian, Kevin J. Boyle, Yuning Shi, Joseph Stachelek and Charles White. 2024. “Quantifying Co-Benefits of Water Quality Policies: An Integrated Assessment Model of Land and Nitrogen Management.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol. 106 (2): 547-572 (http://doi.org/10.1111/ajae.12423).
Nolte, Christoph, Kevin J. Boyle, Anita Chaudhry, Christopher Clapp, Dennis Guignet, Hannah Hennighausen, Ido Kushner, Yanjun Liao, Saleh Mamun, Adam Pollack, Jesse Richardson, Shelby Sundquist, Kristen Swedberg and Johannes H. Uhl. 2024. “Data Practices for Studying the Impacts of Environmental Amenities and Hazards with Nationwide Property Data.” Land Economics, Vol. 100 (1): 200-221 (https://doi.org/10.3368/le.100.1.102122-0090R )
Swedberg, Kristen, Diego S. Cardoso, Adriana Castillo-Castillo, Saleh Mamun, Kevin J. Boyle, Christoph Nolte, Michael Papenfus and Stephen Polasky. 2024. Spatial Heterogeneity in Hedonic Price Effects for Lake Water Quality. Land Economics, Vol. 100 (1): 89-108 (https://doi.org/10.3368/le.100.1.102122-0086R).
Weng, Weizhe, Lingxiao Yan, Kevin J. Boyle and George Parsons. 2023. “COVID-19 and visitation to Central Park, New York City” PLOS ONE, 18(9): e0290713 (https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0290713).
Mamun, Saleh, Adriana Castillo-Castillo, Kristen Swedberg, Jiarui Zhang, Kevin J. Boyle, Diego Cardoso, Catherine L. Kling, Christoph Nolte, Michael Papenfus, Daniel Phaneuf, and Stephen Polasky. 2023. “Valuing water quality in the United States using a national dataset on property values.” Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences, Vol. 120 (15) (https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2210417120)
Mark Morrison Kevin J Boyle, Buyani Thomy, Michael Burton, and Weibin Xu. 2022. “Enhancing Urban Stream Values: The Case of the Cooks and Georges River Catchments.” Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, Vol. 148 (11). (https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)WR.1943-5452.0001577)
Li, Xiaoshu, Kevin J. Boyle, Evan L. Preisser, Thomas P. Holmes and David Orwig. 2022. “Property Value Effects of the Spatial Expansion of the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid in New England, U.S.” Ecological Economics, Vol. 194 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2022.107354).
You, W., Yuan, Y., Boyle, K.J., Michaud, T., Parmeter, C., Seidel, R.W., Estabrooks, P.A. 2022. “Examining Ways to Improve Weight Control Programs’ Population Reach and Representativeness: A Discrete Choice Experiment of Financial Incentives.” Pharmacoeconomics Open, Vol. 6: 193-210. (https://doi.org/10.1007/s41669-021-00310-6).
Keiser, David A., Sheila M. Olmstead, Kevin J. Boyle, Victor B. Flatt, Bonnie L. Keeler, Daniel J. Phaneuf, Joseph S. Shapiro, and Jay P. Shimshack. 2022. “The Evolution of WOTUS and the Role of Economics.” Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Vol 16 (1): 146-152. (https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/717917).
Bishop, Richard C., and Kevin J. Boyle. 2021. “On Adding-Up as a Validity Criterion for Stated-preference Studies.” Environmental and Resource Economics, Vol. 80: 587-601. (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10640-021-00599-1)
Keiser, David, Sheila Olmstead, Kevin Boyle, Victor Flatt, Bonnie Keeler, Cathy Kling, Daniel Phaneuf, Joseph S. Shapiro and Jay Shimshack. 2021. “A water rule that turns a blind eye to transboundary pollution.” Science, Vol. 372 (6539): 241-243. (https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abf8885)
Johnston, Robert J., Kevin J. Boyle, Maria Loureiro, Ståle Navrd, John Rolfe. 2021. “Guidance to Enhance the Validity and Credibility of Environmental Benefit Transfers.” Environmental and Resource Economics, Vol. 79: 575-624. (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10640-021-00574-w)
Weng, Weizhe, Mark D. Morrison, Kevin J. Boyle, Peter C. Boxall and John Rose. 2021. “Effects of the Number of Alternatives in Public Good Discrete Choice Experiments.” Ecological Economics, Vol. 182. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0921800920321959).
Parsons, George, Chris Leggett, Joe Herriges, Kevin J. Boyle, Nancy Bockstael and Zoe Chen. 2021. “A Site-Portfolio Model for Multiple-Destination Recreation Trips: Valuing Trips to National Parks in the Southwestern USA.” Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, Vol. 8 (1): 1-25 (https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/710714).
Frey, Henry Christopher, Peter J. Adams, John L. Adgate, George A. Allen, John Balmes, Kevin Boyle, Judith C. Chow, Douglas W. Dockery, Henry Dirk Felton, Terry Gordon, Jack R. Harkema, Kinney, Michael T. Kleinman, Rob McConnell, Richard L. Poirot, Jeremy A. Sarnat, Lianne Sheppard, Barbara Turpin, and Ron Wyzga. 2020. “The Need for A Tighter Particulate Matter Air Quality Standard: Independent Particulate Matter Review Panel.” The New England Journal of Medicine, 383:680-683. (https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsb2011009 )
Bishop, Kelly C., Nicolai V. Kuminoff, H. Spencer Banzhaf, Kevin J. Boyle, Kathrine von Gravenitz, Jaren C. Pope, V. Kerry Smith, and Christopher D. Timmins. 2020. “Best Practices in Using Hedonic Property Value Models to Measure Willingness to Pay for Environmental Quality.” Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Vol. 14 (2): 260–281. (https://academic.oup.com/reep/article-abstract/14/2/260/5894759)
Weng, Weizhe, Kevin J. Boyle, Kaitlin J. Farrell, Cayelan C. Carey, Kelly M. Cobourn, Hilary A. Dugan, Paul C. Hanson, Nicole K. Ward, Kathleen C. Weathers. 2020. “Coupling Natural and Human Models in the Context of a Lake Ecosystem: Lake Mendota, Wisconsin, USA.” Ecological Economics, Vol. 169. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2019.106556)
Books
Champ, Patricia A., Kevin J. Boyle, and Tom C. Brown (eds.). 2017 (2nd edition). A Primer on Nonmarket Valuation. Springer. (https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-94-007-7104-8)
Bell, Kathleen P., Kevin J. Boyle and Jonathan R. Rubin, (eds.). 2006. Economics of Rural Land-Use Change. Ashgate Publishers: UK. (https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9781315257020/economics-rural-land-use-change-kevin-boyle-kathleen-bell-jonathan-rubin)
Heal, Geoffrey M., Edward B. Barbiere, Kevin J. Boyle, Alan P. Covich, Steven P. Gloss, Carlton H. Hershner, John P. Hoehn, Catherine M. Pringle, Stephen Polasky, Kathleen Segerson, and Kristin Schrader-Frechette. 2005. Valuing Ecosystem Services: Toward Better Environmental Decision-Making. The National Academies Press: Washington, DC. (https://www.nationalacademies.org/publications/11139)
Bergstrom, John C., Kevin J. Boyle, and Gregory L. Poe (eds.). 2001. The Economic Value of Water Quality. Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc.: Cheltenham, UK. (https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/usd/the-economic-value-of-water-quality-9781840640472.html?srsltid=AfmBOop1hOwFcuEsnRPSzpkCgFBZEFFSjLpHb9Ch6oxnrRol-PrtO18M)
Desvousges, William H., F. Reed Johnson, Richard W. Dunford, Kevin J. Boyle, Sara P. Hudson, and K. Nicole Wilson. 1992 (reprinted 2010). Measuring Nonuse Damages Using Contingent Valuation: An Experimental Evaluation of Accuracy. Research Triangle Institute Monograph 92-1, Research Triangle Institute, Research Triangle Park, NC. (https://www.rti.org/rti-press-publication/measuring-nonuse-damages-using-contingent-valuation-experimental-evaluation-accuracy-2nd-ed/fulltext.pdf)