The political economy of world heritage

The paper explores the main determinants a ecting the nomination and selection process of World Heritage Sites. While World Heritage represents the most relevant cultural and natural assets for the humankind, little re- search has been conducted to understand the conditions in uencing the process of sites inscription. Using panel data, we provide evidence on the institutional and economic conditions of countries which a ect the compo- sition of the World Heritage List. In particular, we test whether political factors, such as the involvement of countries in the World Heritage Com- mittee, in uence inscription of national heritage sites in the List. The paper contributes to the cultural economics literature by providing new insights on the political economy of conservation and promotion of heritage at the international level.