The restoration of old buildings in major city thorough the world often involves enormous government expenditure.

This amount of money could bring more benefits if it was used to provide new housing and road development

In the era of economic crisis, government budget allocation is a hot debated topic even in the industrial world. Critics consider the efficiency of investment on old buildings restoration compared with new housing development. This has thus led to a controversy of which two sides will be illuminated in this essay. Supporters of cultural conservation may claim that it is our responsibility for maintaining the traditional value for the next generation. However, others possibly disapprove for their concern about the people who are living under poverty line. Obviously, the residences of such places as slum dogs have significantly more urgent need to receive the subsidies rather than the historic houses, especially when regarding the fact of budget deficit. Putting the money on the house where no one can live instead of building a house for the people who have nowhere to live is definitely not a sensible decision. On the other hand, in reality, investment on the heritage restoration could bring such unpredictably considerable economic benefit which Old Quarter in Viet Nam is anecdotal evidence. This place, attracting countless number of visitors every year is undoubtedly the hub of economic activities in Hanoi and Vietnam in general. Hence, the afore-mentioned shortcoming could be likely considered as the cost opportunity. Moreover, in the far future, the revenue from such sites may be a primary source contributed to social development such as raising the standard of life. In addition, each historic building has its own spiritual value which may have unimaginable influence on the society, particularly in Asia and religious area. Because it is vitally important for the authorities to have the consistent support of the all people when the economic recession is getting more serious, the benefit of conservation related to the value mentioned above should not be underestimated.