The Economics of Zoning Laws: A Property Rights Approach to American Land Use Controls / Edition 1

by William A. Fischel

Overview

Land use controls can affect the quality of the environment, the provision of public services, the distribution of income and wealth, the development of natural resources, and the growth of the national economy. The Economics of Zoning Laws is the first book to apply the modern economic theory of property rights to all major aspects of zoning.

Zoning laws are neither irrational constrints on otherwise efficient markets nor disinterested attempts to correct market failure. Rather, zoning must be viewed as a collective property right, vested in local governments and administered by politicians who rationally repsond to their constituents and to developers as markets for development rights arise.

The Economics of Zoning Laws develops the economic theories of property rights and public choice and applies them to three zoning controversies: the siting of a large industrial plant, the exclusionary zoning of the suburbs, and the constitutional protection of propery owners from excessive regulation. Economic and legal theory, William Fischel contends, suggest that payment of damages under the taking clause of the Constitution may provide the most effective remedy for excessive zoning regulations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801835629
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	08/01/1987
Edition description:	REPRINT
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 5.90(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

William A. Fischel is professor of economics at Dartmouth College.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. Land Use and Land Economics
Chapter 2. The Structure and Administration of Zoning Laws
Chapter 3. The Role of the Courts: The Limits of Zoning
Chapter 4. Zoning Law in Practice
Chapter 5. The Analytics of Land Use: The Property Rights Approach
Chapter 6. The Propery Rights Approach in Perspective
Chapter 7. Suburban Zoning and Housing Supply: A Property Rights Analysis
Chapter 8. The Taking Issue and Zoning
Chapter 9. Entitlement Protection and Takings
Chapter 10. The Political Geography of Zoning
Chapter 11. Does Zoning Matter? Empirical Evidence on Zoning, Externalities, and Housing Costs
Chapter 12. Urban Economics and Zoning
Chapter 13. Suburban Development and Agricultural Land
Chapter 14. Zoning, Property Taxes, and the Tiebout Model
Chapter 15. Opening Up the Suburbs and Growth Controls
Bibliography
Table of Cases
Index

Editorial Reviews

A readable study of zoning that constructively blends the traditional welfare economics analysis of land use regulation and empirical studies of the effect of zoning and new 'deregulation' proposals with a keen understanding of the social and economic motives of local officials . . . [T]he most complete, searching, and balanced analysis of the theoretical basis of land use controls ever published.
—Journal of the American Planning Association

From the Publisher

A readable study of zoning that constructively blends the traditional welfare economics analysis of land use regulation and empirical studies of the effect of zoning and new 'deregulation' proposals with a keen understanding of the social and economic motives of local officials . . . [T]he most complete, searching, and balanced analysis of the theoretical basis of land use controls ever published.

Journal of the American Planning Association