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Explaining the World Heritage List: an empirical study

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  • Bruno Frey
  • Paolo Pamini
  • Lasse Steiner

Abstract

The UNESCO World Heritage List is designed to protect the global heritage. We show that, with respect to countries and continents, the existing World Heritage List is highly imbalanced. Major econometric determinants of this imbalance are historical GDP, historical population, area in square kilometers of a country, and number of years of high civilization. Surprisingly, economic and political factors, such as membership on the UN Security Council, which should be unrelated to the value of a country’s heritage and therefore should have no impact, are shown to have a systematic impact on the composition of the World Heritage List. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Bruno Frey & Paolo Pamini & Lasse Steiner, 2013. "Explaining the World Heritage List: an empirical study," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 60(1), pages 1-19, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:inrvec:v:60:y:2013:i:1:p:1-19
    DOI: 10.1007/s12232-013-0174-4
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Bruno S. Frey & Paolo Pamini, 2009. "World Heritage: Where Are We? An Empirical Analysis," CREMA Working Paper Series 2009-31, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    2. John M. Piotrowski & Mr. Rabah Arezki & Reda Cherif, 2009. "Tourism Specialization and Economic Development: Evidence from the UNESCO World Heritage List," IMF Working Papers 2009/176, International Monetary Fund.
    3. Maddison, Angus, 2007. "Contours of the World Economy 1-2030 AD: Essays in Macro-Economic History," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199227204.
    4. Dreher, Axel & Sturm, Jan-Egbert & Vreeland, James Raymond, 2009. "Development aid and international politics: Does membership on the UN Security Council influence World Bank decisions?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 1-18, January.
    5. IIde Rizzo & Ruth Towse (ed.), 2002. "The Economics of Heritage," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2770.
    6. Peacock, Alan & Rizzo, Ilde, 2008. "The Heritage Game: Economics, Policy, and Practice," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199213177.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Bertacchini, Enrico & Revelli, Federico & Zotti, Roberto, 2023. "Lord, how I want to be in that number! On the blessing of UNESCO World Heritage listing," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 202304, University of Turin.
    2. Kaixuan Huang & Yi Liu, 2023. "The embeddedness and hidden political economy of the world heritage site inscription boom in China," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 572-595, June.
    3. Axel Dreher & Vera Eichenauer & Kai Gehring & Vera Z. Eichenauer, 2013. "Geopolitics, Aid and Growth," CESifo Working Paper Series 4299, CESifo.
    4. Enrico Bertacchini & Federico Revelli, 2021. "Kalòs kai agathòs? government quality and cultural heritage in the regions of Europe," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 67(2), pages 513-539, October.
    5. KW Chau & Lawrence WC Lai & Mark H Chua, 2022. "Post-colonial conservation of colonial built heritage in Hong Kong: A statistical analysis of historic building grading," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 49(2), pages 671-686, February.
    6. Scott Barrett, 2022. "A Biodiversity Hotspots Treaty: The Road not Taken," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 83(4), pages 937-954, December.
    7. Roni Armis & Hidehiko Kanegae, 2020. "The attractiveness of a post-mining city as a tourist destination from the perspective of visitors: a study of Sawahlunto old coal mining town in Indonesia," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 4(2), pages 443-461, June.
    8. Bertacchini, Enrico & Revelli, Federico & Zotti, Roberto, 2024. "The economic impact of UNESCO World Heritage: Evidence from Italy," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    9. Bruno S. Frey & Lasse Steiner, 2014. "God does not play dice, but people should: random selection in politics, science and society," ECON - Working Papers 144, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
    10. Enrico Bertacchini & Claudia Liuzza & Lynn Meskell & Donatella Saccone, 2016. "The politicization of UNESCO World Heritage decision making," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 167(1), pages 95-129, April.
    11. Bruno S. Frey & Lasse Steiner, 2014. "Random Selection in Politics, Science and Society: Applications and Institutional Embeddedness," CREMA Working Paper Series 2014-09, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    12. Husanjon Juraturgunov & Murodjon Raimkulov & Young-joo Ahn & Eunice Minjoo Kang, 2023. "World Heritage Site Tourism and Destination Loyalty along the Silk Road: A Study of U.S. Travelers in Uzbekistan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-21, June.
    13. Bayezid Ismail Choudhury, 2021. "Jatio Sangsad Bhaban: Aspiring to be a UNESCO World Heritage Site," Journal of Social and Development Sciences, AMH International, vol. 11(4), pages 1-6.
    14. Leena K. Koivusilta, 2018. "Country-Level Investment in Cultural Opportunity Structures. A Potential Source of Health Differences Between 21 European Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 137(3), pages 1091-1118, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    World heritage; Culture; UNESCO; International political economy; International organizations; Z11; F5; D6; H87;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Z11 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economics of the Arts and Literature
    • F5 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy
    • D6 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics
    • H87 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - International Fiscal Issues; International Public Goods

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