Note: the Wharton Land Use Index measures the restrictiveness of a metropolitan area’s land use regulations.
The relationship between housing prices and the Wharton Land Use Index
24 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in rentseeking, urban economics Tags: Edward Gleaser, green rent seeking, land supply, land use regulation, zoning
Hsieh and Moretti on Allocations across Cities
23 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, economics of regulation, geography, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: agglomeration, green rent seeking, land supply, zoning
the implied cost of housing restrictions across the whole U.S., and Chang and Enrico find that aggregate output is lower by about 10-14% because of them.
Last post on the NBER growth session. Chang-Tai Hsieh (Chicago) and Enrico Moretti (Berkeley) presented a paper on wage dispersion across cities in the U.S. Wage dispersion (New Yorkers earn more than people in Cleveland) either represents compensation for living costs (housing in New York is more expensive than in Cleveland), a real difference in productivity (New Yorkers are more productive than Clevelanders), or some combination of the two.
What Chang and Enrico find is that the increase in wage dispersion across cities in the U.S. over the last thirty-ish years is due almost entirely to rising house prices in six cities: NY, DC, Boston, San Fran, San Jose, and Seattle. Wages have gone up rapidly in those cities, but that is basically just compensating their citizens for the higher costs of living.
Now, given the costs of living, the allocation of population across cities in the U.S. is…
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New low for economic analysis of NZ opposition leader and Dominion Post editorial on housing affordability
22 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, politics - New Zealand, urban economics Tags: Andrew Little, Dominion Post, economic literacy, housing affordability, media bias, rational irrationality, Resource Management Act, zoning
The editorial in today’s Dominion Post about the proposed reforms in New Zealand to the Resource Management Act to increase of urban land supply and make housing more affordable actually supported some absolute nonsense economic analysis by the Leader of the Opposition, Andrew Little:
Labour leader Andrew Little says part of the problem is in fact low and in many areas stagnating wages.
That is correct, but this merely points to a huge problem that successive governments have failed to solve. Nor is this Government likely to do much by way of living wage reforms or other non-market solutions.
The alleged professional journalist who wrote this editorial is ignorant of the most basic workings of the economy which he could pick up as an ordinary consumer and home owner.
If consumers become wealthier because of higher wages, they will use this increased income to demand more housing and land.
If the supply of land is fixed or otherwise constrained from expanding much, the only thing that will happen is that the price will go up with more money chasing the same amount of land and housing.
This will benefit the existing home owners in New Zealand. Workers who don’t own homes will simply have to pay more of their now higher wages to buy houses. Once again, the Labour Party betrays the interests of the working class to win middle-class home owner votes.
Suburban rent seeking and green rent seeking are a dangerous brew for housing affordability
13 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
Child poverty monitor report finds that housing unaffordability is the cause of rising child poverty in NZ
02 Dec 2014 Leave a comment
Decongesting Auckland – For real – by Andrew Atkin
26 Nov 2014 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand, urban economics Tags: Andrew Atkin, Auckland urban limit, congestion charges, RMA, zoning
Why Middle-Class Americans Can’t Afford to Live in Liberal Cities – The Atlantic
07 Nov 2014 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, economics of regulation, environmental economics, income redistribution, Public Choice, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: Director's Law, green rent seeking, land use regulation, zoning
Andrew Atkin explains how housing affordability has been destroyed in New Zealand.
05 Nov 2014 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, urban economics Tags: Auckland urban limit, land use regulation, metropolitan urban limits, Resource Management Act, zoning
NBER this week: Regulation and Housing Supply
06 Oct 2014 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, economics of regulation, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, land use regulation, urban economics, zoning
The people designing your cities don’t care what you want. They’re planning for hipsters. – The Washington Post
19 Aug 2014 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, income redistribution, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: do gooders, elitism, land supply, new class, rent seeking, the vision of the annointed, zoning
HT: Michael Warby via The people designing your cities don’t care what you want. They’re planning for hipsters. – The Washington Post .
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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