ABSTRACT
Taking the taxonomy of Stigmatized Places, Products, and Technologies (as laid out by the editors of this collection of papers), we address a specific subset of Places—namely real property. We will argue that the value formation process for real estate is fundamentally different than for most other goods commonly purchased by households, and that this difference has profound implications for the way that risk and uncertainty may impact the value of real estate. This leads to a discussion of how diminution in property values due to perceptions regarding the risk of the property (commonly referred to as “stigma”) may arise, and conditions under which it may persist. 1 The second section of the paper addresses particular issues that commonly arise when stigma impacts on property value are addressed in the legal context. These issues are both methodological and philosophical. We conclude with an informal discussion of the role of the media in the formation of stigma impacts on property value and brief thoughts on how the media may mitigate these impacts.
