Windfalls for Wilderness: Land Protection and Land Value in the Green Mountains

• Main Author: Phillips, Spencer R.
• Other Authors: Agricultural and Applied Economics
• Format: Others
• Published: Virginia Tech 2011
• Subjects: land prices; hedonic model; wilderness; conservation
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10919/11104; http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-02042004-141616

Land is a composite good, the price of which varies with its characteristics, including proximity to amenities. Analysis of data from sales of land near Green Mountain National Forest wilderness areas in a hedonic price model reveals a positive relationship between proximity to protected wilderness and market values for residential properties. The applications of this result include improved consideration of the positive economic impacts of land conservation in political deliberations over public land management and new mechanisms for financing land conservation, local planning and development efforts, and maintenance of affordable housing in high-amenity/high-cost areas. === Ph. D.