An Economic Analysis of Yard Care and Synthetic Chemical Use: The Case of San Francisco

Abstract

Yard care is an economically important household production activity that also has potentially significant environmental or health impacts. Of particular concern are the possible negative impacts of using synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. But economic models and empirical analyses of yard care and chemical use are rare. We develop a simple model of household production and consumption to analyze yard care and chemical use. We then estimate a multinomial logit model of these behavioral choices with household data from San Francisco. Attitudes towards the quality of one’s outdoor residential environment and time scarcity are important determinants of the odds of chemical use whereas financial variables play the major role in determining the odds that people have and care for yards. These results could help to improve educational or marketing campaigns that aim to reduce potential or actual problems associated with yard chemical use. Better data for models similar to this one are needed for future research.