Center for Sustainable Tourism

Serving the Region, State, and Nation

Affiliate Faculty

Affiliate Faculty share an interest and enthusiasm for the Center's mission, conduct tourism research activities in conjunction with the Center, serve as thesis advisors and members, and mentor students working on sustainable tourism related research.

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Community Outreach Interests

My interests lie in the area of assisting communities with the efficient management of coastal resources.  I used a unique integration of geospatial data and economic models to estimate the impacts of climate change on North Carolina's coastal recreation and tourism.  I am particularly interested in examining how coastal real estate markets respond to risks associated with sea-level rise including coastal flooding, shoreline erosion, and storm damages.  My current research seeks to evaluate the likely property damages from permanent and temporary flooding along the exposed coast and the relative economic efficiency of mitigation/adaptation policies for coastal communities.

Research Interests

My research is primarily in the area of natural resource and environmental economics, with particular emphasis on environmental valuation.  I have broad interests in applied welfare analysis, and methodologies and econometrics of non-market valuation.  I also have a focus on behavioral economics, specifically related to how economic agents respond to low-probability, high-consequence disaster events and how information conveyed by disasters and risk classifications can be used to learn about economic behavior.  Topical interests include management of coastal and marine resources, fishery and marine policy, conservation of ocean beaches and coastal wetlands, valuation of waterfront views, and assessment of market reactions to coastal hazards (storms, erosion, and sea level rise).  

Notable Publications

• Bin, Okmyung, Craig Landry, and Gregory Meyer. Riparian Buffers and Hedonic Prices: A Quasi-Experimental Analysis of Residential Property Values in the Neuse River Basin. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 2009, in press.
• Bin, Okmyung, Thomas Crawford, Jamie Kruse, and Craig Landry. Viewscapes and Flood Hazard: Coastal Housing Market Response to Amenities and Risk. Land Economics, August 2008, vol. 84(3), pp 434–448.
• Bin, Okmyung, Jamie Kruse, and Craig Landry. Flood Hazards, Insurance Rates, and Amenities: Evidence from the Coastal Housing Market. The Journal of Risk and Insurance, March 2008, vol. 75(1), pp 63–82.
• Bin, Okmyung, and Stephen Polasky. Evidence on the Amenity Value of Wetlands in a Rural Setting. Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, December 2005, vol. 37(3), pp 589-602.
• Bin, Okmyung, Craig Landry, Christopher Ellis, and Hans Vogelsong. Some Consumer Surplus Estimates for North Carolina Beaches. Marine Resource Economics, June 2005, vol. 20(2), pp 145-161.

Courses

• ECON 6300: Economics of Coastal Populations (emphasis on the application of microeconomic analysis of coastal environmental issues and the economic basis for the formation of coastal and marine policies) 
• ECON 5000: Cost Benefit Analysis (emphasis on the effective social decision making through more efficient allocation of resources)