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Lord, how I want to be in that number! On the blessing of UNESCO World Heritage listing

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This paper studies the impact of UNESCO World Heritage List (WHL) in- scription on income and property values in the Italian municipalities that had their sites inscribed during the past two decades. To address the selection bias and identify the causal impact of inscription, we focus on sites included in the national ‘tentative list’ (i.e., list of candidates for subsequent nomination) and exploit the plausibly exogenous timing of inscription conditional upon entering the list. The evidence from an event study analysis suggests that WHL list- ing has a significant impact on the level and distribution of income. Possible underlying mechanisms are discussed.

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  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:uto:dipeco:202304
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    1. Borowiecki, Karol Jan & Pedersen, Maja U. & Mitchell, Sara Beth, 2023. "Using big data to measure cultural tourism in Europe with unprecedented precision," Discussion Papers on Economics 5/2023, University of Southern Denmark, Department of Economics.
    2. Martina Dattilo & Fabio Padovano, 2023. "Evaluating the quality of UNESCO World Heritage List: a comparison with the Baedeker's guidebooks," Post-Print hal-04388046, HAL.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies
    • H71 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • H73 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Interjurisdictional Differentials and Their Effects

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