Online Reservation Systems, Buying Frenzies and Equitable Access to Public Lands

Abstract

Rationed access is an important tool to promote sustainable use of public lands. However, online reservation systems can lead to “buying frenzies” when low prices create excess demand. Using transaction-level data for river permits in the United States sold both by reservation-system buying frenzy and lottery, I show successful frenzy buyers reside in wealthier zip codes than those selected at random. This effect increases with congestion and leads to an unequal distribution of consumption benefits where high-income zip codes receive 25 percent more recreational trip value. These effects can undermine park managers’ efforts to provide equitable access through low fees.