Game of Zones: The Political Economy of Conservation Areas

72 Pages Posted: 9 May 2014

See all articles by Gabriel M. Ahlfeldt

Gabriel M. Ahlfeldt

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) - Department of Geography and Environment

Kristoffer Moeller

Technical University of Darmstadt

Sevrin Waights

Technical University of Darmstadt

Nicolai Wendland

Touro University

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: April 8, 2014

Abstract

Provided there are positive external benefits attached to the historic character of buildings, owners of properties in designated conservation areas benefit from a reduction in uncertainty regarding the future of their area. At the same time, the restrictions put in place to ensure the preservation of the historic character limit the degree to which properties can be altered and thus impose a cost to their owners. We test a simple theory of the designation process in which we postulate that the level of designation is chosen to comply with interests of local homeowners. The implication of the model is that a) an increase in preferences for historic character should increase the likelihood of a designation, and b) new designations at the margin should not be associated with significant house price capitalization effects. Our empirical results are in line with these predictions.

Keywords: designation, difference-in-difference, RDD-DD, England, gentrification, heritage, property value

JEL Classification: H230, H310, R400, R580

Suggested Citation

Ahlfeldt, Gabriel M. and Moeller, Kristoffer and Waights, Sevrin and Wendland, Nicolai, Game of Zones: The Political Economy of Conservation Areas (April 8, 2014). CESifo Working Paper Series No. 4755, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2434475 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2434475

Gabriel M. Ahlfeldt (Contact Author)

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) - Department of Geography and Environment ( email )

Houghton Street
London, WC2A 2AE
United Kingdom

HOME PAGE: http://personal.lse.ac.uk/ahlfeldg/

Kristoffer Moeller

Technical University of Darmstadt ( email )

Universitaets- und Landesbibliothek Darmstadt
Magdalenenstrasse 8
Darmstadt, Hesse D-64289
Germany

Sevrin Waights

Technical University of Darmstadt ( email )

Universitaets- und Landesbibliothek Darmstadt
Magdalenenstrasse 8
Darmstadt, Hesse D-64289
Germany

Nicolai Wendland

Touro University ( email )

1602 Avenue J
New York, NY 10010
United States

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