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World Heritage Status and Farmers’ Income: Evidence From a Regression Discontinuity Design in Colombia

Author

Listed:
  • Orlando Rodríguez
  • Maria Vrachioli
  • David Wüpper
  • Johannes Sauer

Abstract

The core of Colombia's coffee growing region was designated as a World Heritage (WH) site in 2011, making a distinction between “the core” of the region and “the periphery.” However, the coffee cultural heritage does not abruptly stop at the WH boundary but it exists inside and outside the boundary. This allows us to use a regression discontinuity design (RDD) to identify the income effect for farmers located just inside the WH site. We find that the WH designation of the region increases coffee farmers’ income by up to $757 per month. The mechanism includes more tourism activities inside the coffee farms by 39%, higher adoption of sustainable farming practices, increasing organic coffee production by 8.38%, and increasing payments for environmental services (PES) by 2.35%.

Suggested Citation

  • Orlando Rodríguez & Maria Vrachioli & David Wüpper & Johannes Sauer, 2025. "World Heritage Status and Farmers’ Income: Evidence From a Regression Discontinuity Design in Colombia," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 56(5), pages 728-748, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:agecon:v:56:y:2025:i:5:p:728-748
    DOI: 10.1111/agec.70019
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Arne Henningsen & Guy Low & David Wuepper & Tobias Dalhaus & Hugo Storm & Dagim Belay & Stefan Hirsch, 2026. "Estimating Causal Effects With Observational Data: Guidelines for Agricultural and Applied Economists," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 77(2), pages 356-382, June.

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