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What's in a Name? Extracting Econometric Drivers to Assess The Impact of National Park Designation *
Author(s) -
Weiler Stephan,
Seidl Andrew
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of regional science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.171
H-Index - 79
eISSN - 1467-9787
pISSN - 0022-4146
DOI - 10.1111/j.0022-4146.2004.00336.x
Subject(s) - national park , economic impact analysis , econometric model , geography , politics , public land , public use , agricultural economics , economics , natural resource economics , political science , archaeology , econometrics , law , microeconomics
Public land designations are often primarily political decisions that may also have substantial local economic impacts. This paper econometrically estimates the visitation effect of the conversion of National Monuments to National Parks through the eight designation changes that have occurred between 1979 and 2000. The study finds robust and significant impacts of such conversions, yielding 11,642 additional visitors annually, even after controlling for likely site acreage expansion and other site visitation trends. Furthermore, these new visitors do not appear to occur at the expense of visitation at alternative sites. Using these findings, the paper explores the local economic impact of the Great Sand Dunes conversion on Colorado's San Luis Valley.