[This article, originally published on the site Tech for Housing, has been updated. Mai-Cutler's kickstarter has a few days left. You can donate here.] How Burrowing Owls Lead To Vomiting Anarchists (Or SF’s Housing Crisis Explained) is Kim Mai-Cutler’s 2014 TechCrunch masterpiece exploring the … [Read more...]
Thoughts On Today’s Emily Hamilton Vs. Randal O’Toole Cato Discussion
Because of work obligations, I listened to only about a third of today's Cato Institute discussion on urban sprawl. I heard some of Randall O'Toole's talk and some of the question-and-answer period.O’Toole said high housing prices don’t correlate with “zoning” just with “growth constraints.” … [Read more...]
Private Neighborhoods And The Transformation Of Local Government
Urban Institute Press • 2005 • 494 pages • $32.50 paperbackIn Private Neighborhoods and the Transformation of Local Government, Robert H. Nelson effectively frames the discussion of what minimal government might look like in terms of personal choices based on local knowledge. He looks at the … [Read more...]
One Reason Why Subsidies Aren’t the (Only) Solution
I was rereading the Obama Administration's surprisingly market-oriented policy paper on zoning and affordable housing, and saw one good point that I had never really thought about.One common anti-development argument is that government should subsidize housing for the poor instead of allowing … [Read more...]
The Psychological Consequences Of Rent Control
The University of Chicago Press has published a “definitive” edition of F. A. Hayek’s The Constitution of Liberty under the editorial guidance of long-time Hayek scholar Ronald Hamowy. Given my interest in urban issues, it’s a good time for me to focus on chapter 22, “Housing and Town Planning.” It … [Read more...]
Kotkin And The Atlantic- Spreading ‘Localism’ Nonsense Together
The Atlantic Magazine's Citylab web page ran an interview with Joel Kotkin today. Kotkin seems to think we need more of something called "localism", stating: "Growth of state control has become pretty extreme in California, and I think we’re going to see more of that in the country in general, … [Read more...]
Collective Action Problems Are Similar For Land Use And Schools
I just read a law review article complaining that some white areas in integrated southern counties were trying to secede from integrated school systems (thus ensuring that the countywide systems become almost all-black while the seceding areas get to have white schools), and it occurred to me that … [Read more...]
‘Who better to determine local needs than property owners and concerned citizens themselves?’
The Cato Institute’s Vanessa Brown Calder is skeptical of the Obama administration’s suggestion that state governments can play a role in liberalizing land-use regulation, a policy area usually dominated by local governments. In an otherwise thoughtful post responding to a variety of proposals, she … [Read more...]