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

<h3>Abstract</h3> 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.