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

Yang Zhou

Regional Science and Urban Economics, 2021, vol. 86, issue C

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.

Keywords: Historic district; Housing market; Public goods; Collective action (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D00 H40 R20 R30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:regeco:v:86:y:2021:i:c:s0166046220302684

DOI: 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2020.103583

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