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The political economy of historic districts: The private, the public, and the collective

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  • Zhou, Yang

Abstract

This paper studies the political economy of historic district designation, with a focus on how historic district designation influences housing prices. I provide transaction-level empirical evidence from Denver, Colorado from 1990 to 2016 using hedonic price models with multiple fixed-effects. Results suggest that being in a historic district generates a 12–23% premium for house transactions after designation. Given the institutional context of Denver, I argue that one possible mechanism of the premium is the collective action problem in the historic district designation process. Meanwhile, a 10–20% positive spillover to the neighboring homes of historic districts is found, and the specific characteristics of historic districts influence the spillovers.

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  • Zhou, Yang, 2021. "The political economy of historic districts: The private, the public, and the collective," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:regeco:v:86:y:2021:i:c:s0166046220302684
    DOI: 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2020.103583
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Historic district; Housing market; Public goods; Collective action;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D00 - Microeconomics - - General - - - General
    • H40 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - General
    • R20 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - General
    • R30 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - General

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