The three economic values of cultural heritage: a case study in the Netherlands

This paper shows that the economic benefits of conserving the most threatened types of cultural heritage surpass the costs. Conservation is a sound investment. For a case study in the Netherlands three different benefits are calculated: a housing comfort value, a recreation value and a bequest value. The housing comfort value is determined through the Hedonic Pricing method (HPM). It is the first time that this monetarisation technique is used to express the value of cultural heritage in Euro's. The results show that historical characteristics of buildings and their surroundings account for almost 15% of property values. The recreation and bequest value are estimated by means of the more commonly used Contingent Valuation method (CVM).