Greenery and Subjective Well-being: Assessing the Monetary Value of Greenery by Type

This study shows the monetary value of greenery in Tokyo by type, based on the relationship between greenery types and well-being indices. We use multiple measures to measure well-being, including the Cantril ladder, life satisfaction, subjective happiness, affect balance, and mental health, as each of these measures may capture a different aspect of well-being. We utilize QuickBird satellite images with a pixel resolution of 61 cm, which have not been used in previous studies. This allows us to extract greenery data at the tree level, which is a method we expect to contribute to a more reliable evaluation of greenery. Our estimation results show that the valuations of greenery change depending on the choice of index used to measure well-being and the type of greenery.