The Welfare Effects of Greenbelt Policy: Evidence from England

Arbeitspapier

We measure the economic effects of urban growth boundaries or greenbelts that prohibit new construction beyond a predefined urban fringe. We focus on England, where 13% of the land area is designated as greenbelt land. Using spatial differencing, we show that the external effects of these regulations are substantial (about 15-20%) but very local. In contrast to the previous literature, we find no evidence for internal or 'own-lot' effects. We further show that supply effects are important: greenbelt policy reduces housing construction in greenbelts by about 80%, thereby increasing prices throughout the housing market by about 4%. We show that greenbelt policy implies a negative welfare cost of about £ 7.5 billion a year (0.5% of England's GDP). We further find evidence that greenbelts are no popular recreational destinations (proxied by geocoded pictures), and do not imply longer commutes or more housing CO2 emissions.

Angaben zum Objekt

• Sprache: Englisch

Verweise und Beziehungen

• Erschienen in: Series: Tinbergen Institute Discussion Paper ; No. TI 2019-023/VIII

Klassifikation und Themen

• Klassifikation: Wirtschaft
• Thema: housing ; supply constraints ; greenbelts ; urban growth boundary ; open space

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Ereignis: Geistige Schöpfung
• (wer): Koster, Hans ; Zabihidan, Mohammad Saeed
• Ereignis: Veröffentlichung
• (wer): Tinbergen Institute
• (wo): Amsterdam and Rotterdam
• (wann): 2019

Weitere Informationen

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/205313
• Letzte Aktualisierung: 10.03.2025, 11:42 MEZ