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Voluntary Development Restrictions and the Cost of Habitat Conservation
Author(s) -
Lovell Sabrina J.,
Sunding David L.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
real estate economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.064
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1540-6229
pISSN - 1080-8620
DOI - 10.1111/1080-8620.00007
Subject(s) - habitat , differential (mechanical device) , economics , land values , natural resource economics , land use , habitat conservation , agriculture , quality (philosophy) , econometric model , environmental resource management , business , geography , ecology , econometrics , philosophy , archaeology , epistemology , engineering , biology , aerospace engineering
The management of economic activity on private land plays an important role in the effort to maintain and improve environmental quality in the United States. The paper develops a conceptual framework and an econometric model of the value of undeveloped land to show how preexisting development restrictions affect the cost of protecting habitat. The model is applied to the case of preserving vernal pools in California's Sacramento County by prohibiting development on agricultural land. Ignoring the existence of California's program of differential property tax assessment of farmland is shown to result in a large overestimate of the cost of habitat protection.