At Volokh, Ilya Somin discusses a recent piece in the American Prospect (also linked from here) that favors “New Urbanism” to prevent “unwalkable” sprawl. Somin favors “voting with your feet” as the preferred method of satisfying location preferences. Unfortunately, voting options have … [Read more...]
Somin: Causes of the Defeat of Prop 98
Ilya Somin at Volokh - Causes of the Defeat of Proposition 98 There were two major causes of Prop 98's defeat. One was the sponsors' mistake in combining the popular cause of restricting eminent domain with a far less popular phaseout of rent control. The second and more unusual cause of 98's … [Read more...]
Somin: Prop 99 Worse Than Nothing
Ilya Somin at Volokh: Why California's Proposition 99 is a Lot Worse than Nothing Yesterday's California returns show that Proposition 98 - the referendum initiative that would have imposed real restrictions on eminent domain and also phased out rent control - has been overwhelmingly defeated by … [Read more...]
Somin: Prop 98 Likely to Fail, 99 to Pass
Ilya Somin at Volokh: Polls on California Eminent Domain Ballot Initiatives Show Prop 98 Likely to Fail and Prop 99 Likely to Pass: In a recent Field Poll cited in the article, Proposition 98 was losing by 43 to 33 percent among "likely voters," while Proposition 99 was ahead by 48 to 30 … [Read more...]
Rent Control Part 2: Black Market, Deterioration and Discrimination
With New York's new Governor's rent subsidized by his landlord and California debating the best ways to end rent control through Proposition 98, I thought it was a good opportunity to discuss the negative aspects of rent control. This post is the second in a four part series on the rent control. … [Read more...]