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oai:mountainscholar.org:10217/2448962026-06-11T18:12:59Zcom_10217_100532com_10217_100000com_10217_100399com_10217_100303col_10217_182111col_10217_100400

Gifford, Thomas C., author Barbier, Edward, advisor Fremstad, Anders, committee member Pena, Anita, committee member Bayham, Jude, committee member 2026-06-08T10:33:11Z 2026 Gifford_colostate_0053A_19541.pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10217/244896 https://doi.org/10.25675/3.027256 This dissertation presents three essays in applied microeconomics that analyze how local communities respond to regional environmental and technological change. The first essay studies the role of public charging infrastructure in promoting electric vehicle (EV) adoption. Using county-level panel data from Washington State between 2019 and 2023, I estimate the marginal effects of new charging stations on new EV registrations and test for heterogeneity across income levels and charger types. The results show that charging infrastructure increases battery electric vehicle adoption, but the effects are concentrated in higher-income counties. Furthermore, fast chargers are shown to increase EV adoption across a wider income range than slower chargers. These results indicate that infrastructure expansion alone will not produce equitable EV adoption outcomes. The second essay analyzes the long-run economic impacts of large wildfires on regional tourism spending in Colorado. Using county-level tourism spending data from 1996 to 2019 and a staggered difference-in-differences framework, I find that the largest wildfires generate persistent declines in tourism expenditures and associated state and county tax revenues. These losses are primarily driven by reductions in commercial lodging activity. Results show that extreme wildfire events can produce sustained disruptions to local tourism-dependent economies and pose a growing threat to regional public services. The third essay examines the relationship between wildfire exposure and drinking water quality in Colorado between 2000 and 2023. Using watershed-level panel data, the analysis shows that wildfire exposure is associated with statistically significant increases in Safe Drinking Water Act violations, particularly turbidity violations. Smaller and moderately sized fires generate significant increases in violations, suggesting that even relatively modest wildfire events can disrupt drinking water systems. Back-of-the-envelope cost estimates indicate that these violations may impose substantial operational costs on water utilities. These essays highlight how infrastructure, wildfire disturbances, and environmental systems interact with economic activity and public services, with implications for energy transition policy, wildfire management, and drinking water system resilience. born digital doctoral dissertations English eng Colorado State University. Libraries 2020- Copyright and other restrictions may apply. User is responsible for compliance with all applicable laws. For information about copyright law, please see https://libguides.colostate.edu/copyright. electric vehicles tourism wildfire regional economics applied microeconomics water quality Essays on electric vehicles, wildfires, and regional economic impacts Text Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Doctoral Economics Colorado State University This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights (https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/). You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). open.access