Analysis

Planning an Affordable City

Published: 2015 | Roderick M. Hills, Jr. David Schleicher | Yale Law & Economics Review Abstract In many of the biggest and richest cities in America, there is a housing affordability crisis. Housing prices in these cities have appreciated well…

Housing Constraints and Spatial Misallocation

Published: 2015 | Chang-Tai Hsieh Enrico Moretti | Nation Bureau of Economic Research Abstract We quantify the amount of spatial misallocation of labor across US cities and its aggregate costs. Misallocation arises because high productivity cities like New York and…

California’s High Housing Costs: Causes and Consequences

Published: 2015 | Mac Taylor | Legislative Analyst’s Office Abstract The purpose of this report is to provide the Legislature an overview of the state’s complex and expensive housing markets, encompassing both single-family homes and multi-family apartments. We pay particular…

Cities as Labor Markets

Published: 2014 | Alain Bertaud | Marron Institute NYU Abstract A city’s welfare depends on its labor market. As long as a labor market does not fragment into adjacent, smaller ones as it grows, the larger the market, the more…

The New Exclusionary Zoning

Published: 2014 | John Mangin | Stanford Law and Policy Review Abstract If low-income families can’t afford the suburbs and the cities, where should they go? For the first time in American history, it makes sense to talk about whole…