The Individual Determinants of Support for Open Space Bond Referendums

Authors

Patrick Prendergast, University of Rhode Island
Shanna Pearson-Merkowitz, University of Rhode IslandFollow
Corey Lang, University of Rhode IslandFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of Original Version

2018

Abstract

The ubiquitous use of ballot referendums in the public finance of land conservation means that conservation policy is often made at the individual voter level. However, studies to date have relied on either aggregate vote outcomes or surveys of residents of small geographic areas facing high growth. In this article, we utilize an original national survey to investigate a series of questions that pertain to individual opinion on open space preservation with a special focus on respondents’ perception of open space in their community. We find that most demographic variables that are determinants of open space and land use preferences in studies that use aggregate data and cover a limited geographic range are not statistically significant in our models. We also find that perceptions about the amount of open space available in ones’ community, not objective open space measurements, are a statistically significant and robust determinant of open space bond support. Our results indicate that policy advocates may be able to increase the probability of support for public financing of open space preservation by focusing on people’s perceptions of the scarcity and disappearance of open space.

Citation/Publisher Attribution

Prendergast, P., Pearson-Merkowitz, S., & Lang, C. (2019). The individual determinants of support for open space bond referendums. Land Use Policy, 82, 258-268. doi: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.12.009

Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.12.009

Comment

Shanna Pearson-Merkowitz is in the Department of Political Science. Corey Lang and Patrick Prendergast (PhD Candidate) are in the Department of Environmental and Natural Resource Economics.