Abstract
We study the economic effects of public investments in historic amenities by looking at their impact on house prices. We distinguish between direct and indirect effects of investments. A nationwide housing transaction is used as well as data on investments in cultural heritage. A 1 million euro per square kilometre increase in investments in cultural heritage leads to a price increase of 1.5–3.0% of non-targeted buildings. We do not find evidence that the maintenance state of non-eligible properties is improved, suggesting that any price effect due to investments in cultural heritage is a direct effect of investments.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | F396-F420 |
| Number of pages | 25 |
| Journal | Economic Journal |
| Volume | 127 |
| Issue number | 605 |
| Early online date | 24 Oct 2017 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Oct 2017 |
Funding
This work has benefited from a VENI research grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research. We thank NVM and the Department for Cultural Heritage (RCE), and particularly Remco Laverman for providing data. Donald Kreiken provided excellent research assistance. Gabriel Ahlfeldt, Sevrin Waights, Floris Lazrak and the participants of the Tinbergen Institute workshop on the Economics of Cultural Heritage are thanked for useful comments on previous versions of this article. The authors are grateful to the editor, Frederic Vermeulen, and to an anonymous referee for comments and advice. The usual disclaimer applies.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek |
Keywords
- cultural heritage
- hedonic pricing
- historic amenities
- housing externalities
