The Data Center Price Myth
Rising electricity prices are being pinned on data centers, but demand isn’t what makes power expensive.
Policy
Would Star Trek's Transporter Destroy Cities or Save Them?
What a speculative technology can tell us about the demands for urban density and sprawl
Mamdani Needs a Maximalist Vision of Mayoral Power To Achieve His Goals. Lina Khan Has a Plan.
As one of Mamdani's top advisers, Khan has been making a list of all the "authorities that the mayor can unilaterally deploy."
Zohran's Inner Circle: Meet the Radicals on Mamdani's Transition Team
The new mayor's advisers include people who have praised antisemites and called for defunding the police.
The House Just Passed a Bill To Curb Environmental Lawsuits and Speed Up Construction Projects
The SPEED Act is unlikely to pass the Senate, but hopefully it will initiate sorely needed bipartisan reforms.
Trump Blames Illegal Immigrants for High Housing Prices. Blame Zoning Instead.
Low-skilled immigrants would expand the supply of housing more than they increase demand, if local governments would just allow new construction.
Brennan Center Symposium on "2025's Most Significant State Constitutional Cases"
Contributors include Eugene Volokh and myself, among many others.
Localism and the Limits of Regulating What We Love
When the perceived emotional harm from new development becomes a justification for state intervention, the law gets really arbitrary really quickly.
17 Ways Politicians Can Make Things Cheaper, Starting With Food, Health Care, and Appliances
A real affordability agenda would unleash free markets, not constrain them.
Donald Trump Tries To Override State AI Regulations via Executive Order
Only time will tell if the president's order achieves its stated purpose of checking state laws that threaten to stymie innovation.
Sweating the Little Things
The freedom to build in-law suites and home additions is crucial, even if it doesn't get us all the way to housing "abundance."
Our Amicus Brief in the Pung v. Isabella County Home Equity Theft Takings Case
I wrote it (with help from others) on behalf of the Cato Institute and a group of takings and property scholars.
Non-Paywalled Version of My Washington Examiner Article on "Foot Voting, Housing, and Affordability"
The Cato Institute has posted one on its website.
Trump's Tariffs Were Supposed To Cut the Trade Deficit and Boost U.S. Manufacturing. They're Not Working.
For Trump, tariffs are a solution to every problem, and his trade war is more about the vibes than the economics.
Virginia's New Blue Trifecta Puts Right-To-Work on the Line
Democrats retook full control in Richmond and are already advancing right-to-work repeal, testing whether incoming Gov. Abigail Spanberger will stand by her campaign promise.
What America Can Learn From Japanese Housing
On housing policy, America needs to be less fascist King Kong and more free-market Godzilla.
My New Washington Examiner Article on "Foot Voting, Housing, and Affordability"
We can make housing more affordable and empower people to "vote with their feet" by curbing exclusionary zoning. Left and right should support that instead of counterproductive snake oil like rent control, tariffs, and deportations.
New Car Prices Hit $49,766 in October. Rolling Back Fuel Economy Regulations Could Bring Relief.
Here's a Trump reform that could actually make something more affordable.
The Horseshoe of Doom: Populists Left and Right Say America Is Failing. The Facts Don't.
When voters believe they're living through an economic apocalypse, they're willing to embrace the very policies that would create one.
In Connecticut, Zoning Reform Is Back From the Dead
Plus: A challenge to the Trump administration's shift away from "housing first" and reflections on the West's "Great Downzoning"
The Poverty Line Isn't a Vibe
A more robust welfare state won't change the fact that tradeoffs exist, even for relatively wealthy Americans who choose to have kids.
Republican Socialism: Trump Is Taking Federal Stakes in Private Companies
The Trump administration's pivot toward socialism did not come without warning.
Knitters Need Free Trade: Trump's Tariffs Are Making Crafting Supplies Harder To Get
"Every supplier I have, minus one, from major to minor, has had a price increase," a Tennessee yarn shop owner tells Reason.
Trump Slammed Biden's $52 Billion CHIPS Act. Then He Used It To Buy a Federal Stake in Intel.
Biden said "companies are investing in America again." Instead, America is investing in companies—and getting little in return.
Uncle Sam Makes Thanksgiving Worse
We have many things to be grateful for this time of year. The government isn't one of them.
Muriel Bowser Was a Flawed Mayor. We'll Miss Her When She's Gone.
Bowser's apathetic pragmatism sustained D.C.'s turnaround success while keeping a hard-left approach to city government at bay.
D.C. Circuit Upholds Energy Department Ban on Non-Condensing Furnaces and Water Heaters
After this decision, rescinding this Biden Administration rule may be more difficult.
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass Says You Can Defeat NIMBYism by Building Less
Plus: The DOJ and RealPage reach a settlement, the ROAD to Housing Act hits a speed bump, and Donald Trump and Zohran Mamdani talk housing policy.
A Dirge for DOGE
The Department of Government Efficiency didn't accomplish much. We still have cause to mourn its official closure.
Trump's Tariffs Are Likely To Make Toys More Expensive This Christmas Shopping Season
In Trump's first term, he exempted many Chinese toys and household items from tariff hikes. This time, they're subject to a 30 percent import tax.
Can the Government Mandate a Vaccine for Your Own Good? This Federal Court Says Yes.
The 9th Circuit made a ruling this year that could allow far-ranging government interference with private health decisions.
A 50-Year Mortgage Won't Make Homes Affordable
Ultra-long mortgages create the illusion of affordability but lock borrowers into decades of extra interest because leaders won’t fix the supply crunch.
Can We Make Flophouses Great Again? And Should We?
The government destroyed the last century's privately provided housing safety net. Bringing it back is harder than you might think.
Mamdani's Win Offers Terrible Temptation for Democrats
Rent freezes will discourage construction, government-run grocery stores are a joke, and free buses will become roving homeless shelters.
Los Angeles City Council Votes To Lower Rent Caps on 650,000 Rent-Stabilized Apartments
The new rules would permit landlords to raise rents by a maximum of 4 percent per year, a decrease from the 8 percent maximum allowable increase under the current rules.
A New Lawsuit Says New York's Rent Law Is Forcing Landlords To Keep Apartments Empty
Landlords argue that rent caps on vacant units prevent them from financing the costs of legally mandated renovations.
The End of 'Housing First'
Plus: Shutdown over, Mexican murder rate, UES spews Mamdani hate, and more...
The Trump Administration's Latest Housing 'Fix' Could Inflate Another Bubble
Socializing risk to subsidize demand isn't a solution to the housing crisis, but it is a good start to another financial crisis.
The 50-Year Mortgage: Completely Fine or a Total Flop?
Mortgage experts are divided on the wisdom of a 50-year mortgage. No one seems to think it's the key to making homeownership affordable.
Don't Send Cubans and Venezuelans Back To Suffer Under Communism
Despite Trump promising to stand "with the good people of Cuba and Venezuela," his administration has fast-tracked deportations for victims of communism.
Federalist Society National Lawyers Convention Panel on Zoning, Property Rights, and the Housing Crisis
I participated along with James Burling (Pacific Legal Foundation), Prof. Peter Byrne (Georgetown), and Prof. Sara Bronin (George Washington University).
New York Voters Say Yes to Faster Housing Approvals
Does that mean they want more housing generally?
Good Riddance, Andrew Cuomo
The former governor had a bad record, a worse attitude, and zero vision.
6 Zohran Mamdani Campaign Promises That New York City Can't Afford
Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani has been elected mayor by promising New Yorkers “free” programs and services with their own money.
New Jersey Sticks With a Conventional Democrat
Mikie Sherrill will mostly continue business as usual—but with the possibility of some regulatory reform.
Election Day
What races in New York City, New Jersey, and Virginia can tell us about the future of housing policy.
Mamdani's Socialist Mayorship Will Make New York a Worse Place To Live and Do Business
His plans to offer "free" buses and daycare, freeze rents, and create city-owned grocery stores are expensive and proven failures.
