A lawsuit alleges New York City’s Rent Guidelines Board broke the law by arbitrarily predetermining the outcome.
Mamdani Promised To Freeze the Rent. Now His Rent Freeze Is in Court.
Mamdani Promised To Freeze the Rent. Now His Rent Freeze Is in Court.
04 Oct 2026 1 Comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, income redistribution, law and economics, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: New York City, rent control
YIMBY = IGMSY
04 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, politics - USA, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, land supply, zoning
“I’ve got mine; screw you!” is the rallying cry of those who seek to increase the density of urban areas by building multi-story apartment buildings. Actually, the rallying cry is “Yes in my backyard,” but most prominent YIMBYs live in single-family homes and I haven’t heard of a single one … Continue reading →
YIMBY = IGMSY
The Far-Left Wins Berlin’s Election on the Promise of Seizing Private Apartments
24 Sep 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, economics of regulation, income redistribution, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, property rights, Public Choice, regulation, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: Germany, rent control
The Left wants to cure the city’s high housing costs by expropriating 225,000 apartments owned by large real estate corporations.
The Far-Left Wins Berlin’s Election on the Promise of Seizing Private Apartments
The Externalities of Airports and Immigrants
24 Sep 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, transport economics, urban economics Tags: economics of immigration
Are the externalities of airports positive or negative? If you base your answer on NIMBY complaining, the answer is obviously negative. Above all, there’s the noise. The deafening sounds of take-off and landing bedevil everyone who spends time near the airport. On top of that, there’s daily traffic. Not every airport is LAX (in fact,…
The Externalities of Airports and Immigrants
Aberdeen hydrogen bus fleet sold for just 6% of original public investment
19 Sep 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, transport economics, urban economics Tags: British politics
Last year, I reported how all of these buses had been mothballed because of a lack of hydrogen supply in Aberdeen. Presumably the eco-nutters thought it came out of thin air! The post Aberdeen hydrogen bus fleet sold for just 6% of original public investment appeared first on Watts Up With That?.
Aberdeen hydrogen bus fleet sold for just 6% of original public investment
The effects of remote work on the disability employment gap
17 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in discrimination, gender, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, transport economics, urban economics Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
A rise in work from home explains most of the postpandemic gain in full-time employment among people with physical disabilitiesBy Tyler Smith. “Employment among people with disabilities has remained well below that of the broader population, with an average disability employment gap of 27 percentage points across OECD countries. In the United States, this low disability…
The effects of remote work on the disability employment gap
Some Links
10 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, income redistribution, liberalism, libertarianism, Marxist economics, Public Choice, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: rent control
TweetChristine Rosen uncovers evidence of the pathetic appeal of the DSA. Two slices: But one aspect of the DSA’s appeal has been too often overlooked, particularly by conservative critics: its appeal as a form of instant community for a generation that often lacks one. DSA supporters are a highly homogenous group: 85 percent of DSA…
Some Links
The Endangered Species Act Reduces Housing
31 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economics of regulation, environmental economics, environmentalism, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, urban economics
Max Tabarrok’s paper on the Endangered Species Act and housing (WP) has just been published in the Journal of Public Economics! It’s a clever paper: Max observed that the moment an animal is put on the endangered species list, developers face enhanced compliance costs and liability risk. But what’s important for an empirical economist is…
The Endangered Species Act Reduces Housing
US DOT Amends List of Safety Measures
22 Jul 2026 Leave a comment
in transport economics, urban economics
NPR reports that the Department of Transportation has deleted bike lanes and four other practices from its list of “proven safety measures.” Bike advocates complain that the “administration has clearly decided to reject science and abdicate its role as the stewards of transportation safety.” Photo by Gene Bisbee. But just … Continue reading →
US DOT Amends List of Safety Measures
Nine Tweets Ripping Mamdani’s Economically Illiterate Expansion of Rent Control
28 Jun 2026 1 Comment
in applied price theory, income redistribution, law and economics, Marxist economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, urban economics Tags: rent control
I’ve written several columns (here, here, here, here, and here) detailing the folly of rent control. And now that New York City’s dilettante socialist mayor has proposed to expand rent control, I thought about doing the same thing. But I noticed so many clever comments on Twitter/X that I decided on a different approach. Here […]
Nine Tweets Ripping Mamdani’s Economically Illiterate Expansion of Rent Control
1,600 more homes in Upper Hutt, if the Council doesn’t block it
26 May 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, politics - New Zealand, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, land supply, zoning
Radio NZ reports: A developer is calling on the Upper Hutt City Council to let it build what it believes to be a crucial road, so it can construct 1600 homes. Guildford Timber Company (GTC) wants to build the road through an area of council-owned land known as the Silverstream Spur, home to a number…
1,600 more homes in Upper Hutt, if the Council doesn’t block it
Why California High-Speed Rail Failed
23 May 2026 Leave a comment
in transport economics, urban economics
While Wendover Productions, the maker of this video, believes in high-speed rail, it shows that the California project was poorly planned. Planners optimistically believed it could be built in the U.S. for the same costs that high-speed rail had been built in Europe. Among other things, they failed to account … Continue reading →
Why California High-Speed Rail Failed
A good idea for supermarket competition
14 May 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, politics - New Zealand, urban economics Tags: competition law, land supply, zoning
The Spinoff reports: Both Labour and National governments have considered the idea of breaking up the big two but ultimately decided against it. A 2023 analysis by MBIE suggested forcibly breaking up the supermarkets could cost as much as $3.8 billion over 20 years, mostly due to the loss of economies of scale. It could make wholesale and distribution…
A good idea for supermarket competition
Bet On It Book Club: For a New Liberty, Chapter 11
10 May 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, history of economic thought, libertarianism, Murray Rothbard, transport economics, urban economics
SummaryIn this chapter, Rothbard advocates the abolition of publicly-owned streets and roads:Abolition of the public sector means, of course, that all pieces of land, all land areas, including streets and roads, would be owned privately, by individuals, corporations, cooperatives, or any other voluntary group ings of individuals and capital.He begins by explaining that in a…
Bet On It Book Club: For a New Liberty, Chapter 11
Cape Town estimate of the day
24 Apr 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, growth disasters, Public Choice, urban economics Tags: South Africa
From young professionals to the working poor, many Cape Town residents complain that out-of-control housing prices have forced them to live far from the jobs, affluent schools and healthy supermarkets available in the city center. They blame deep-pocketed tourists for occupying housing in prime locations and developers for pricing them out. Some 70 percent of…
Cape Town estimate of the day
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