What Determines the World Heritage List? An Econometric Analysis

Frey, Bruno S.; Pamini, Paolo; Steiner, Lasse

doi:10.2139/ssrn.1782702

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What Determines the World Heritage List? An Econometric Analysis

University of Zurich Department of Economics Working Paper No. 1

36 Pages Posted: 12 Mar 2011

See all articles by Bruno S. Frey

Lasse Steiner

University of Zurich

Date Written: January 1, 2011

Abstract

The official intention of the UNESCO World Heritage List is to protect the global heritage. However, the existing List is highly imbalanced according to countries and continents. Historical reasons, such as historical GDP, population, and number of years of high civilization, have a significant impact on being included on the List. In addition, economic and political factors unrelated to the value of heritage, such as rent seeking by bureaucrats and politicians, the size of the tourist sector, the importance of media, the degree of federalism, and membership in the UN Security Council, influence the composition of the List.

Keywords: Global public goods, world heritage, international organizations, international political economy, culture

JEL Classification: Z11, F5, H87

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Frey, Bruno S. and Pamini, Paolo and Steiner, Lasse, What Determines the World Heritage List? An Econometric Analysis (January 1, 2011). University of Zurich Department of Economics Working Paper No. 1, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1782702 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1782702