PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Fienup, Matthew J.
AU  - Plantinga, Andrew J.
TI  - Unintended Effects of Environmental Policies: The Case of Urban Growth Controls and Agricultural Intensification
AID  - 10.3368/le.97.2.261
DP  - 2021 May 01
TA  - Land Economics
PG  - 261--280
VI  - 97
IP  - 2
4099  - http://le.uwpress.org/content/97/2/261.short
4100  - http://le.uwpress.org/content/97/2/261.full
SO  - Land Econ2021 May 01; 97
AB  - When environmental policies do not control decision-making on all margins, they can have unintended effects on the environment. We examine effects of urban growth boundaries (UGBs) on agricultural intensification. A primary goal of a UGB is to preserve open space outside the boundary; however, by eliminating the future rent stream from development, UGBs encourage landowners to adopt more capital-intensive agricultural uses. We empirically estimate UGB effects on intensification rates in Ventura County, California. Difference-in-differences estimates reveal that UGBs increased intensification rates by 16–21 percentage points. In Ventura County, policies designed to preserve open space accelerated its loss and increased agricultural externalities