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Kevin J. Boyle

Professor, Agricultural and Applied Economics
  • Willis Blackwood Director, Blackwood Program in Real Estate

Virginia Tech Professor Kevin Boyle

Kevin J. Boyle
430A Bishop Favrao Hall
Blacksburg, VA
24060
kjboyle@vt.edu
540-231-2907
Click here to view Google Scholar

Dr. Boyle leads one of the top real esate academic programs.  The Blackwood Program in Real Estate is ranked first by the Bachelor’s Degree Center and third by Great Business Schools among the nation’s top 25 real estate programs. College Factual ranks the program as the fourth most popular real estate academic program. Kevin's research focuses on improving methods to measure nonmarket values and to elicit preferences.  One of his specialties is the estimation of property-value models to understand how amenities and disamenities affect real estate market values. He has studied the property value impacts of air pollution, forest pest infestations, surface and groundwater quality, urban stormwater infrastructure, tree cover, and other applications. He also works with stated-preference methods (contingent valuation and choice modeling), other revealed-preference methods (travel-cost models and averting behavior) and benefit transfers.  Applications of his research include surface and groundwater, land use, forest health, climate change, marine resources, and health.  He has participated in numerous projects throughout the U.S. and in Canada, Chile, Australia, Bangladesh and India. To learn more about Professor Boyle's work, click on the information below. He was listed as one of the Top 100 People in Real Estate for 2022, and is a Fellow of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association and Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.

Expertise:

Environmental and natural resource economics; food and health economics; real estate economics and management; law and land use/agribusiness law

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 where I am a co-editor of A Primer on Nonmarket Valuation. Much of my current research focuses on the estimation of property-value models to understand how amenities and disamenities affect real estate market values. I am a coauthor on seminal articles on the state of the art for stated-preference methods, property-value modeling and benefit-transfer procedures.

My application specialties include valuation of freshwater resources, both surface water and groundwater. I have studied the effects of nonpoint-source pollution on lakes at numerous locations around the US, 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, AU, urban stormwater infrastructure. Currently, I am working with graduate students postdocs and colleagues from several universities to exploit national data on lake water quality to inform public decision making.

The third specialty is public health. I am currently part of a team developing and studying the efficacy of an app that exploits NASA’s satellite date to inform households of cholera risk.  

Kristen Swedberg, Ph.D.
  • 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
  • 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, Research Associate, Center for Health Services Research, University of Kentucky 
  • 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)

"Evaluation and Program Assistant, Local Food Research Center, Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project"

“Linking land use decision-making, water quality, and lake associations to understand human-natural feedbacks in lake catchments.”  Sponsor: National Science Foundation. 

“Effects of Oyster Aquaculture on Chesapeake Bay Waterfront Property Values.”

“Market Mechanisms to Address Micronutrient Diet Deficiencies in Low-Income Countries.”

“Sitting of Community Wind Farms: An Investigation of the NIMBY Effect.” 

“Large-scale Hedonic Property Value Analysis of Forest Pest Impacts Related to Climate Change - Impact of the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid on Property Values.” Sponsor: U. S. Forest Service. 

“Meta-analysis of Forest-Based Hedonic Property Value Studies: Value of Tree Cover in Suburban Areas.”  Sponsor: U. S. Forest Service. 

“Dynamic Interactions of Monetary and Non-monetary Incentives in Weight Loss Interventions.” Sponsor: NIH. 

“Integrated Management of Zoosporic Pathogens and Irrigation Water Quality for a Sustainable Green Industry.”  Sponsor: USDA-Specialty Crops. 

Experience

  • Professor, Blackwood Program in Real Estate, Pamplin College of Business, 2022-present.
  • Willis Blackwood Director, Blackwood Program in Real Estate, Pamplin College of Business, 2019-present.
  • Founding Director, Program in Real Estate, Virginia Tech,  2013-2019.
  • Professor, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, September 2012 to present.
  • Professor and Head, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, September 2005 to March 2012.
  • Distinguished Maine Professor, Department of Resource Economics and Policy, Department of Wildlife Ecology, September 2002 to August 2005
  • Chair, Department of Resource Economics and Policy, University of Maine, June 2003 to August 2005.
  • Founding Director, Center for Tourism Research and Outreach (CenTRO), University of Maine, September 2004 to August 2005.

Selected Awards

Top 100 People in Real Estate for 2022 

2020 Alumni Award for Research Excellence, Virginia Tech

Fellow, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, 2019

Faculty Alumni Engagement Award, Virginia Tech College of Agricultural and Applied Economics, 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

ESCOP/ACOP Leadership Development Program Certificate, 2003

Distinguished Member, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, 2002

Presidential Research and Creative Achievement Award, University of Maine, 2001 

Selected Publications

Journal Articles

Mark Morrison Kevin J Boyle, Buyani Thomy, Michael Burton, and Weibin Xu. “Enhancing Urban Stream Values: The Case of the Cooks and Georges River Catchments.” Water Resources Management 

Li, Xiaoshu, Kevin J. Boyle, Evan L. Preisser, Thomas P. Holmes and David Orwig. “Property Value Effects of the Spatial Expansion of the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid in New England, U.S.” Ecological Economics.

You, W., Yuan, Y., Boyle, K.J., Michaud, T., Parmeter, C., Seidel, R.W., Estabrooks, P.A. 2021. “Examining Ways to Improve Weight Control Programs’ Population Reach and Representativeness: A Discrete Choice Experiment of Financial Incentives.” Pharmacoeconomics Open.

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. 2021. “The Evolution of WOTUS and the Role of Economics.” Review of Environmental Economics and Policy 

Bishop, Richard C., and Kevin J. Boyle. 2021. “On Adding-Up as a Validity Criterion for Stated-preference Studies.” Environmental and Resource Economics. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.

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. 

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. 

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. 

Li, Xiaoshu, Thomas P. Holmes, Kevin J. Boyle, Ellen V. Crocker and C. Dana Nelson. 2019. Hedonic Analysis of Forest Pest Invasion: The Case of Emerald Ash Borer. Forests, Vol. 10 (9), 820. 

Boyle, Kevin J., and Matthew J. Kotchen. 2019. The Need for More (Not Less) External Review of Economic Analysis at the U.S. EPA. Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Vol. 13 (2): 308–316. 

Boyle, Kevin J., Jessica A. Boatwright, Sreeya Brahma and Weibin Xu. 2019. “NIMBY, not, in Siting Community Wind Farms.” Resource and Energy Economics, Vol. 57: 85-104. 

Singh, Meghendra, Prasenjit Sarkhel, Gloria J Kang, Achla Marathe, Kevin Boyle, Pam Murray-Tuite, Kaja M Abbas and Samarth Swarup. 2019. “Impact of Demographic Disparities in Social Distancing and Vaccination on Influenza Epidemics in Urban and Rural Regions of the United States.” BMC Infectious Diseases, Vol. 19 (1), 221. 

Bishop, Richard C., and Kevin J. Boyle. 2019. “Reliability and Validity in Nonmarket Valuation.” Environmental and Resource Economics, Vol. 72 (2): 559-582. 

Cobourn, K.M., C.C. Carey, K.J. Boyle, C. Duffy, H.A. Dugan, K.J. Farrell, L. Fitchett, P.C. Hanson, J.A. Hart, V.R. Henson, A.L. Hetherington, A.R. Kemanian, L.G. Rudstam, L. Shu, P.A. Soranno, M.G. Sorice, J. Stachelek, N.K. Ward, K.C. Weathers, W. Weng, Y. Zhang. 2018. “From concept to practice to policy: modeling coupled natural and human systems in lake catchments.” Ecosphere, Vol. 9 (5), e02209. 

Sorice, Michael G., C. Josh Donlan, Kevin J. Boyle, Weibin Xu, and Stefan Gelcich. 2018. “Scaling Participation in Payments for Ecosystem Services Programs.” Plos One, Vol. 13 (3): e0192211. 

Banerjee, Onil, Kevin J. Boyle, Cassandra T. Rogers, Janice Cumberbatch, Barbara Kanninen, Michele Lemay, and Maja Schiling.  2018. “Estimating benefits of investing in resilience of coastal infrastructure in small island developing states: An application to Barbados.” Marine Policy, Vol. 90: 78-87. 

Boyle, Kevin J., and Jeffrey M. Wooldridge.  2018. “Understanding Error Structures and Exploiting Panel Data in Meta-Analytic Benefit Transfers.” Environmental and Resource Economics, Vol. 69 (3): 609-635. 

Boyle, Kevin J., Matthew J. Kotchen, and V. Kerry Smith. 2017. “Deciphering dueling analyses of clean water regulations.” Science, Vol. 358 (6359): 49-50.   

Bishop, Richard C., Kevin J. Boyle, Richard T. Carson, David Chapman, W. Michael Hanemann, Barbara Kanninen, Raymond J. Kopp, Jon A. Krosnick, John List, Norman Meade, Robert Paterson, Stanley Presser, V. Kerry Smith, Roger Tourangeau, Michael Welsh, Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, Matthew DeBell, Colleen Donovan, Matthew Konopka, Nora Scherer.  2017. "Contingent valuation: Flawed logic? Response." Science, Vol. 357 (6349): 363-364.

Bishop, Richard C., Kevin J. Boyle, Richard T. Carson, David Chapman, W. Michael Hanemann, Barbara Kanninen, Raymond J. Kopp, Jon A. Krosnick, John List, Norman Meade, Robert Paterson, Stanley Presser, V. Kerry Smith, Roger Tourangeau, Michael Welsh, Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, Matthew DeBell, Colleen Donovan, Matthew Konopka, Nora Scherer.  2017. “Putting a value on injuries to natural assets: The BP oil spill.” Science, Vol. 356 (6335): 253-254. 

Johnston, Robert J., Kevin J. Boyle, Wiktor Adamowicz, Jeff Bennett, Roy Brouwer, Trudy Ann Cameron, W. Michael Hanemann, Nick Hanley, Mandy Ryan, Riccardo Scarpa, Roger Tourangeau, Christian A. Vossler. 2017. “Contemporary Guidance for Stated Preference Studies.” Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, Vol. 4 (2): 319-405. 

Sanderford, A.R., Read, D.C., Xu, W. and Boyle, K.J., 2017. “Obtaining Differentiation Premiums in the Presence of Fee Regulation in the Residential Real Estate Appraisal Industry.” Housing Policy Debate, Vol. 27, (5): 698-711. 

Kaul, Sapna, Rochelle R. Smits-Seeman, Eduardo R. Zamora, Holly Spraker-Perlman, Kevin J. Boyle and Anne C. Kirchhoff.  2017. “Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Survivors’ Valuation of Post-Treatment Recommended Care.” Journal of Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology, Vol 6 (1):  127-133. (doi:10.1089/jayao.2016.0054). 

Rothwell, Erin, Sapna Kaul, Kevin Boyle, and Bob Wong.  2016.  "Value of Genetic Incidental Findings Related to Cancer Causing Genes." American Journal of Cancer Prevention, Vol. 4 (3): 44-50. 

Siriwardena, Shyamani, Kevin J. Boyle, Thomas P. Holmes and P. Eric Wiseman.  2016. “The implicit value of tree cover in the U.S.: A meta-analysis of hedonic property value studies.” Ecological Economics, Vol. 128: 68-76.

Cultice, Alyssa, Darrell J. Bosch, James W. Pease and Kevin J. Boyle.  2016. “Horticultural Growers’ Willingness to Adopt Recycling of Irrigation Water”.  Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Vol. 48 (1): 99–118. 

Boyle, K.J., R.W. Paterson, R.T. Carson, Christopher Leggett, B. Kanninen, John Molenar, and J. Neumann.  2016. “Valuing Shifts in the Distribution of Visibility in National Parks and Wilderness Areas in the United States.”  Journal of Environmental Management, Vol. 173: 10-22. 

Cohen, Jed, Klaus Moeltner, Christine Blinn, Kevin J. Boyle and Thomas P. Holmes. 2016. “Hedonic Valuation with Translating Amenities: Mountain Pine Beetles and Host Trees in the Colorado Front Range.”  Environmental and Resource Economics, Vol. 65 (3): 613-642.

Boyle, Kevin J., Mark Morrison, Darla Hatton MacDonald, and Roderick Duncan. 2016. “Investigating Internet and Mail Implementation of Stated-Preference Surveys While Controlling for Differences in Sample Frames”. Environmental and Resource Economics, Vol. 64 (3):401-419. 

Dymond, Randy, Kevin J. Boyle, Yvan J. Beliveau, Rosemary Carucci Goss, Raman Kumar and P. Eric Wiseman.  2015. “Development of an Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Program in Real Estate: Breaking Down University Silos.”  Journal of Real Estate Practice and Education, Vol. 18 (2):141-162. 

Hashemi, Ali, Wen You, Kevin J. Boyle, Christopher F. Parmeter, Barbara Kanninen and Paul A. Estabrooks.  2015. “Identifying Financial Incentive Designs to Enhance Participation in Weight Loss Programs.”  Journal of Obesity & Weight Loss Therapy, Vol. 5 (247):2.  

Zhang, Congwen, Kevin J. Boyle and Nicolai V. Kuminoff.  2015. “Partial Identification of Hedonic Demand Functions.”  Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Vol. 71:180-197. 

Aziz, Sonia, Kevin J. Boyle and Thomas Crocker.  2015. “Parental Decisions, Child Health and Valuation of Avoiding Arsenic in Drinking Water in Rural Bangladesh.”  Journal of Water and Health, Vol. 13 (1): 152-167. 

Books

Champ, Patricia A., Kevin J. Boyle, and Tom C. Brown (eds.). 2017 (2nd edition).  A Primer on Nonmarket Valuation.  Springer. 

Bell, Kathleen P., Kevin J. Boyle and Jonathan R. Rubin, (eds.). 2006. Economics of Rural Land-Use Change.  Ashgate Publishers: UK.

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.

Bergstrom, John C., Kevin J. Boyle, and Gregory L. Poe (eds.). 2001. The Economic Value of Water Quality. Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc.: Cheltenham, UK.

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