I'm a little slow picking up on this one, but the Wall Street Journal recently interviewed Harvard Urban Economist, Ed Glaeser. Here are some excerpts from State of the City:THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: What effect will higher gasoline prices have on urban planning in the U.S.?MR. GLAESER: I … [Read more...]
Links and Weekend Listening
I've been swamped in my day job, but want to share the following:The blog, Agents of Urbanism recently gave praise to Market Urbanism. Thanks Matthew! Please check out Agents of Urbanism and Life Without Buildings, who followed up on Agent of Urbanism's praise. I enjoy both blogs.Carl … [Read more...]
Urban[ism] Legend: Gas Taxes and Fees Cover All Costs of Road Use
No doubt, mass production of the automobile is one of the greatest innovations of all times. It has allowed for increased mobility of goods and people, which has greatly improved productivity and leisure. But, is subsidizing mobility at the expense of taxpayers taking things too far?In various … [Read more...]
Boudreaux: Roads Don’t Need New Taxes
Don Boudreaux to the Washington Times:LETTER TO EDITOR: Roads don't need new taxesThursday, July 24, 2008Upset that Virginians' taxes were not recently raised to construct more roads, State Delegate Brian J. Moran, Alexandria and Fairfax Democrat, declares that "Government has an … [Read more...]
Conservatives and Urbanism
Matthew Yglesias - Straight Talk on Gasoline on drilling and how conservative deviation from free-market principles has hurt the environment:Meanwhile, take something like the accessory dwellings issue. Here you have a bunch of regulations that make it illegal for people to live more densely. … [Read more...]
Glaeser on Affordability of NY vs Houston
Harvard Economist Ed Glaeser wrote an opinion piece in the New York Sun about the differences in housing affordability and other costs of living between Houston and New York.New York is naturally more expensive than Houston because the geographical constraints force higher density development, … [Read more...]
Amateur Economist: Zoning Hurts Housing Affordability
G.L.C. at Amateur Economist wrote an informative article on zoning, an issue which always gets attention at Market Urbanism - Why Zoning Laws Are No Longer a Benefit to U.S. Home BuyersVirtually every town in the United States has zoning laws which affect land use, lot size, building heights, … [Read more...]
New Research on the Economics of Green Buildings
There is little reliable research into the economic returns of high-performance (green) features of buildings, but Professor John Quigley plans to release his groundbreaking research on the subject this Fall.I am very excited to learn this news, and will certainly look forward to reviewing the … [Read more...]