10.1177/1078087404274137 URBAN AFFAIRS REVIEW / July 2005Lubell et al. / POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS AND CONSERVATION POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS AND CONSERVATION BY LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

In this article, the authors develop a political market framework to explain the circumstances under which Florida counties will supply environmental public goods in the form of conservation amendments to county general plans. The framework emphasizes the role of local legislative and executive institutions as mediators of local policy change. Using count models and interaction terms, the analysis shows how the strength of real estate interests constrains the ability of profes-sional county managers to pursue conservation policies. The findings reinforce the importance of developing theories of urban politics in which local political institutions are not transparent. Keywords: political institutions; local government; environmental policy; conservation; growth management; policy change The provision of local public goods has been a central focus of the urban political economy literature since Tiebout (1956; see also Schneider 1989; Peterson 1981). In this article, we develop a theoretical framework to explain the circumstances under which Florida counties will supply environmenta