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Liberalizing cities | From the bottom up

“Market Urbanism” refers to the synthesis of classical liberal economics and ethics (market), with an appreciation of the urban way of life and its benefits to society (urbanism). We advocate for the emergence of bottom up solutions to urban issues, as opposed to ones imposed from the top down.

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Richard Florida and Market Urbanism

May 1, 2017 By Michael Lewyn

I just finished reading Richard Florida's new book, The New Urban Crisis.  Florida writes that part of this "crisis" is the exploding cost of housing in some prosperous cities.  Does that make him a market urbanist?  Yes, and no. On the one hand, Florida criticizes existing zoning laws and the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Book Review, NIMBYism, Zoning Tagged With: RIchard Florida, skyscrapers, zoning

Where The Permits Are

March 16, 2017 By Michael Lewyn

Thanks to Stephen Smith, I recently ran across an interesting database: HUD data on building permits by municipality.   So I decided to find the number of permits per 1,000 for a wide variety of cities, focusing on (1) multifamily permits (because rising rent is a bigger problem in most places than … [Read more...]

Filed Under: housing Tagged With: housing

The “Foreign Buyers” Argument

March 8, 2017 By Michael Lewyn

A common argument against new housing supply is that in high-cost cities such as New York, demand from foreign buyers is so overwhelming as to make new supply irrelevant.  A recent study (available here) by two business school professors suggests otherwise.  The study does show more foreign … [Read more...]

Filed Under: housing, Policy Tagged With: new york, prices

Yglesias Gives Best Tweetstorm Ever

February 27, 2017 By Michael Lewyn

Matthew Yglesias has a group of tweets that begin with this: Someone needs to give me an Oscar one of these years so I can subject America to a tedious discussion of land use regulation. — Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) February 27, 2017 "In the movies, there is no minimum lot size or … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Zoning Tagged With: zoning

My New Book On Market Urbanism

February 8, 2017 By Michael Lewyn

I am happy to announce that my new book "Government Intervention and Suburban Sprawl: The Case for Market Urbanism" is now available at Amazon.  There is a "look inside the book" feature at the book's Amazon webpage for those who would like to know more. I would like to thank not just the readers … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture & Books, sprawl Tagged With: sprawl, Urbanism

The Land Value Argument Against New Housing

February 2, 2017 By Michael Lewyn

One common argument against new housing is that permitting it causes land to become more valuable, thus leading to higher rather than lower rents.  It seems to me that this argument is unpersuasive for a few reasons. First, if it was true, places with permissive zoning would have higher rents … [Read more...]

Filed Under: housing

The Sheer Craziness Of New York City’s Rent Stabilization Mandates

January 30, 2017 By Michael Lewyn

Recently, I met someone who was trapped in a terrible apartment.  Why "trapped"?  For months (if not years) she had been in an adversarial relationship with both her landlord and her neighbors, but she can't quite bring herself to leave.  Why not? First, she is in a rent-stabilized apartment, and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: housing, rent control

Thoughts On Today’s Emily Hamilton Vs. Randal O’Toole Cato Discussion

November 29, 2016 By Michael Lewyn

Because of work obligations, I listened to only about a third of today's Cato Institute discussion on urban sprawl.  I heard some of Randall O'Toole's talk and some of the question-and-answer period. O’Toole said high housing prices don’t correlate with “zoning” just with “growth constraints.”  … [Read more...]

Filed Under: housing, sprawl Tagged With: home ownership, sprawl

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