Benefits of NMons in western America outweigh foregone economic opportunities: study

Do the societal benefits of national monuments on US public lands outweigh the opportunity cost of forgone development and resource extraction? The answer is "yes," according to a new study by Resources for the Future researcher Margaret Walls.

Walls's new peer-reviewed study, published recently in Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, explains the motivation for the Antiquities Act, which is used to create national monuments; describes the myriad controversies surrounding national monument designations; and reviews the literature on societal benefits, costs, and economic impacts of monuments and other similarly protected lands.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-09/rftf-blo090820.php