Donovan Rypkema: Missouri Historic Preservation Activity Growing Faster than State, US Domestic Products

On September 11, 2008, noted preservation economist Donovan Rypkema delivered a rousing keynote speech on "The Economics of Historic Preservation" at the Missouri Statewide Preservation Conference in St. Charles. Rypkema's talk focused on Missouri, where he told the room of nearly 200 people that over $2 billion has been invested in historic preservation since the passage of the state historic rehabilitation tax credit in 1998. The news got even better as Rykema showed that Missouri historic preservation activity has grown at a faster rate than the state and national gross domestic products every year since the tax credit was created. The full text of the speech with its useful accompanying graphs and figures is now online, courtesy of Missouri Preservation. Read the speech here in PDF format.