On the origins of land use regulations: theory and evidence from US metro areas

Christian Hilber and Frederic Robert-Nicoud

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: We model residential land use constraints as the outcome of a political economy game between owners of developed and owners of undeveloped land. Land use constraints benefit the former group (via increasing property prices) but hurt the latter (via increasing development costs). More desirable locations are more developed and, as a consequence of political economy forces, more regulated. Using an IV approach that directly follows from our model we find strong and robust support for our predictions. The data provide weak or no support for alternative hypotheses whereby regulations reflect the wishes of the majority of households or efficiency motives.

Keywords: land use regulations; zoning; land ownership; housing supply (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H7 Q15 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 54 pages
Date: 2009
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/28702/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: On the origins of land use regulations: Theory and evidence from US metro areas (2013)
Working Paper: On the Origins of Land Use Regulations: Theory and Evidence from US Metro Areas (2012)
Working Paper: On the Origins of Land Use Regulations: Theory and Evidence from US Metro Areas (2010)
Working Paper: On the origins of land use regulations: theory and evidence from us metro areas (2010)
Working Paper: On the Origins of Land Use Regulations: Theory and Evidence from US Metro Areas (2009)
Working Paper: On the origins of land use regulations: Theory and evidence from US metro areas (2009)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:28702

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