Shore Protection: Choices and Benefits

Abstract

The coastal zone of the United States is a major source of economic and population growth. All aspects of the coastal economy — tourism, residential and commercial development — are heavily dependent upon the environmental preservation and recreational quality of beaches. This study characterizes the linkages among beach quality, tourism, and the coastal economy. We document the empirical evidence for the economic and demographic importance of the coastal zone, and for the crucial role that tourism plays in its economy. The remaining piece of the puzzle — the link between beach protection activities on the one hand and tourism and the coastal economy on the other — is less-well substantiated. We identify two economic models that can be used to measure the strength of the relationship between beach quality and the coastal economy. We consider both cross-sectional differences, i.e., variation among coastal counties in recreational and property values as a function of beach quality; and temporal differences, i.e., recreational and property values along the coast both before and after placement of federal shore-protection projects.