In a survey released this morning by Scioto Analysis, all 19 economists surveyed agreed that public spending on state parks is an efficient strategy for producing goods for Ohio residents like recreation, environmental quality, and health. This comes as fracking revenue was reallocated from park improvement to park operating expenses in the most recent state budget.
As Kevin Egan from the University of Toledo said in his comments, “Ohio only has 0.77% of its land as state park and ranks 34th in the nation for federal or state lands. The worst part is possibly reducing funding due to taxing fracking less. It is efficient to tax activities that cause pollution more and then using those tax dollars for public parks is a ‘double dividend’.”
Despite the general consensus, many respondents noted that while public spending on outdoor recreation is in many cases an efficient use of resources, there is a point where there are diminishing marginal returns to higher levels of spending. As Will Georgic from Ohio Weselyan wrote “There is an efficient level of public spending on state parks that is certainly greater than zero, so I strongly agree with this statement as written. However, there is some optimal level of spending on state parks beyond which further spending would be inefficient.”
Additionally, 14 out of 19 economists agreed that reducing funding for state parks will lead to long-term deterioration of natural assets that will reduce the future economic potential of those areas.
Rachel Wilson noted that these decreases may lead to decreases in tourism, writing “I think it can also attract out of state visitors which is where the real economic boom comes from as it introduces new spending into the economy rather than re-allocating current residents' recreational money.”
The Ohio Economic Experts Panel is a panel of over 30 Ohio Economists from over 30 Ohio higher educational institutions conducted by Scioto Analysis. The goal of the Ohio Economic Experts Panel is to promote better policy outcomes by providing policymakers, policy influencers, and the public with the informed opinions of Ohio’s leading economists. Individual responses to all surveys can be found here.