To mitigate conflicting land use demands and to reduce increasing land consumption, effective instruments for steering land use are needed. While conventional instruments for land use planning have been increasingly criticised, economic instruments (such as taxes, subsidies and tradeable permits) have received growing attention in practice and research. The purpose of this study is to provide a systematic overview of current research on the application of economic instruments in the context of land use. We thereby identified focus areas in the research field, highlighted research needs and provide an overview of the effectiveness of different economic instruments in the context of land use. Overall, we confirmed that economic instruments have substantial potential in the context of land use steering, primarily in regard to taxes, charges and subsidies.