IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/pubeco/v232y2024ics0047272724000094.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

National parks and economic development

Author

Listed:
  • Szabó, Andrea
  • Ujhelyi, Gergely

Abstract

This paper studies the economic effects of the US National Park System, the largest national conservation entity in the world. We assemble a new dataset on the history of the system, and show that parks increase overall employment and income in the local economy. The data allows us to study several specific mechanisms. Economic effects appear to be driven by visitors, and they cannot be explained by direct government spending on park budgets or by various substitution effects. Our findings provide evidence relevant to conservation policy in the US and elsewhere.

Suggested Citation

  • Szabó, Andrea & Ujhelyi, Gergely, 2024. "National parks and economic development," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:232:y:2024:i:c:s0047272724000094
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2024.105073
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047272724000094
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2024.105073?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chidakel, Alexander & Child, Brian & Muyengwa, Shylock, 2021. "Evaluating the economics of park-tourism from the ground-up: Leakage, multiplier effects, and the enabling environment at South Luangwa National Park, Zambia," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    2. Clément de Chaisemartin & Xavier D'Haultfœuille, 2020. "Two-Way Fixed Effects Estimators with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(9), pages 2964-2996, September.
    3. Gary Solon & Steven J. Haider & Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, 2015. "What Are We Weighting For?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 50(2), pages 301-316.
    4. Callaway, Brantly & Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C., 2021. "Difference-in-Differences with multiple time periods," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 200-230.
    5. Sims, Katharine R.E. & Alix-Garcia, Jennifer M., 2017. "Parks versus PES: Evaluating direct and incentive-based land conservation in Mexico," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 8-28.
    6. Jakus, Paul M. & Akhundjanov, Sherzod B., 2019. "The Antiquities Act, national monuments, and the regional economy," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 102-117.
    7. Enrico Moretti, 2014. "Local Economic Development, Agglomeration Economies, and the Big Push: 100 Years of Evidence from the Tennessee Valley Authority," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 129(1), pages 275-331.
    8. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "How Much Should We Trust Differences-In-Differences Estimates?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(1), pages 249-275.
    9. Weiler, Stephan, 2006. "A park by any other name: National Park designation as a natural experiment in signaling," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 96-106, July.
    10. Rasker, Ray & Gude, Patricia H. & Delorey, Mark, 2013. "The Effect of Protected Federal Lands on Economic Prosperity in the Non-metropolitan West," Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, Mid-Continent Regional Science Association, vol. 43(2).
    11. Sims, Katharine R.E., 2010. "Conservation and development: Evidence from Thai protected areas," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 94-114, September.
    12. Matias Busso & Jesse Gregory & Patrick Kline, 2013. "Assessing the Incidence and Efficiency of a Prominent Place Based Policy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(2), pages 897-947, April.
    13. Kotchen, Matthew J. & Wagner, Katherine R.H., 2023. "Crowding in with impure altruism: Theory and evidence from volunteerism in national parks," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).
    14. Hunt Allcott & Daniel Keniston, 2018. "Dutch Disease or Agglomeration? The Local Economic Effects of Natural Resource Booms in Modern America," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 85(2), pages 695-731.
    15. Yong Chen & David J. Lewis & Bruce Weber, 2016. "Conservation Land Amenities And Regional Economies: A Postmatching Difference-In-Differences Analysis Of The Northwest Forest Plan," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(3), pages 373-394, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Reynaert, Mathias & Souza-Rodrigues, Eduardo & van Benthem, Arthur A., 2024. "The environmental impacts of protected area policy," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    2. Ricardo Dahis & Christiane Szerman, 2023. "Decentralizing Development: Evidence from Government Splits," Monash Economics Working Papers 2023-18, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    3. Goodman-Bacon, Andrew, 2021. "Difference-in-differences with variation in treatment timing," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 254-277.
    4. Görg, Holger & Mulyukova, Alina, 2024. "Place-based policies and firm performance: Evidence from Special Economic Zones in India," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    5. Tien Manh Vu & Hiroyuki Yamada, 2022. "Do enterprise zones promote local business development? Evidence from Vietnam," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 1206-1224, September.
    6. Abagna, Matthew Amalitinga & Hornok, Cecília & Mulyukova, Alina, 2024. "Place-based policies and household wealth in Africa," Kiel Working Papers 2263, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    7. Xie, Tingting & Yuan, Ye, 2023. "Go with the wind: Spatial impacts of environmental regulations on economic activities in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    8. Jack (Peiyao) Ma & Andrea Mantovani & Carlo Reggiani & Annette Broocks & Néstor Duch-Brown, 2024. "The Price Effects of Prohibiting Price Parity Clauses: Evidence from International Hotel Groups," Economics Series Working Papers 1043, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    9. Blesse, Sebastian & Diegmann, André, 2022. "The place-based effects of police stations on crime: Evidence from station closures," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    10. Carpenter, Christopher S. & Churchill, Brandyn F. & Marcus, Michelle, 2023. "Bad lighting: Effects of youth indoor tanning prohibitions," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    11. Mikhail Mamonov & Anna Pestova & Steven Ongena, 2023. "“Crime and Punishment”? How Banks Anticipate and Propagate Global Financial Sanctions," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp753, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    12. Kayaoglu, Aysegul, 2022. "Do refugees cause crime?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    13. Borchert, Lea & de Haas, Ralph & Kirschenmann, Karolin & Schultz, Alison, 2023. "Broken relationships: De-risking by correspondent banks and international trade," ZEW Discussion Papers 23-064, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    14. Pelzl, Paul & Poelhekke, Steven, 2021. "Good mine, bad mine: Natural resource heterogeneity and Dutch disease in Indonesia," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    15. Moretti, Enrico & Wilson, Daniel J., 2014. "State incentives for innovation, star scientists and jobs: Evidence from biotech," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 20-38.
    16. Natali, Ilaria, 2024. "Economic Opportunity and Opioid Regulation: the Case of Codeine in France," TSE Working Papers 24-1563, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    17. Bruno Ferman, 2023. "Inference in difference‐in‐differences: How much should we trust in independent clusters?," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(3), pages 358-369, April.
    18. Roth, Jonathan & Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C. & Bilinski, Alyssa & Poe, John, 2023. "What’s trending in difference-in-differences? A synthesis of the recent econometrics literature," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 235(2), pages 2218-2244.
    19. Bhalotra, Sonia R. & Clarke, Damian & Gomes, Joseph & Venkataramani, Atheendar, 2018. "Maternal Mortality and Women's Political Participation," IZA Discussion Papers 11590, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Fang, Guanfu & Zhu, Ying, 2022. "Long-term impacts of school nutrition: Evidence from China’s school meal reform," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:232:y:2024:i:c:s0047272724000094. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505578 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.