Tacos, Sandwiches, and Zoning
Plus: Austin shrinks its minimum lot sizes, Florida builds on past zoning reforms, and Arizona passes ADU and missing middle bills.
Policy
Will Antitrust Policy Smother the Power of AI?
Left alone, artificial intelligence could actually help small firms compete with tech giants.
Indiana Court Rules Burritos and Tacos Qualify as Sandwiches
The decision exemplifies a longstanding issue in legal theory. It also highlights the absurdity of zoning rules.
Compendium of Bryan Caplan's Guest-blogging Posts on His New Book "Build, Baby, Build: The Science and Ethics of Housing Regulation"
A listing of his four posts on different aspects of the book and the issues it raises.
California Lawmakers Might Resurrect Failed 'Urban Renewal' Program
In practice, these programs have empowered local governments to use eminent domain to seize property to redistribute to developers.
*Build, Baby, Build*: Responses to the Best Objections
Specificity, fertility, and political assimilation. Fourth in a series of guest-blogging posts.
No, Politicians Can't 'Fix' Prices—and That's OK
Price controls lead to the misallocation of resources, shortages, diminished product quality, and black markets.
The YIMBY Napkin
Checking the credibility of Hsieh-Moretti the lazy way. Third in a series of guest-blogging posts.
The Scandalous Science Behind Nuclear Regulation
A flawed scientific model continues to hinder the nuclear power industry and shape policy, holding us all back.
Zoning Regulations Empower Control Freaks—and Bigots
The Institute for Justice has launched a project to reform land use regulation.
New York's City of Maybe
Plus: Colorado passes a string of zoning reforms, an upscale Los Angeles grocery store sues to stop new housing, and Democrats urge the White House to get moving on fair housing.
A New Law Is Making It Even Harder To Find Day Care in D.C.
D.C.'s new degree requirements could lead to job losses, increased operating costs, and higher tuition.
*Build, Baby, Build*: My Most Inexcusable Omission
Privatization of federal and state land is a massive missed opportunity. Second in a series of guest-blogging posts.
We Don't Need a Nationwide Energy Code
These new regulations will drive up housing costs even further.
Trillions
Why *Build, Baby, Build* should be a top libertarian priority. First in a series of guest-blogging posts.
Bryan Caplan, Guest-blogging About his New Book "Build, Baby, Build: The Science and Ethics of Housing Regulation"
The book makes the case for massively deregulating housing markets.
Reason Is a Finalist for 14 Southern California Journalism Awards
Nominated stories include journalism on messy nutrition research, pickleball, government theft, homelessness, and more.
Trump Promised To 'Drain the Swamp.' He Did the Opposite.
Total spending under Trump nearly doubled. New programs filled Washington with more bureaucrats.
Academics Use Imaginary Data in Their Research
Academia values the appearance of truth over actual truth.
Rent Free Q&A: Bryan Caplan on Build, Baby, Build
The George Mason University economist talks about his new housing comic book and how America could deregulate its way into an affordable urban utopia.
Missouri Bill Would Ban Eminent Domain, but Only for Wind and Solar Projects
The Show Me State has plenty of room to rein in laws on taking private property, but instead, lawmakers are focusing only on one very narrow use case.
Don't Co-Parent With Congress
Instead of lobbying for age verification and youth social media bans, parents can simply restrict their kids' smartphone use.
Argentina's Congress Passes Some of Milei's Deregulation Reforms. Will the Senate Support Them?
With only a minority of support in Congress, the president had to make concessions to secure the passage of his sweeping reform bill.
Rent Control Remains the Wrong Solution to Housing Woes
Restricting the price of housing kills incentives to supply places to live.
How Immigration Restrictions Reduce Housing Construction and Exacerbate Shortages
A new study shows deportation of undocumented migrants reduces housing construction by diminishing the supply of workers needed to do it.
How California's Ban on Diesel Locomotives Could Have Major National Repercussions
No technology exists today to enable railroads to comply with the state's diktat, which villainizes a mode of transportation that is actually quite energy efficient.
Illinois Won't Let Him Do His Job Filing Paperwork—Unless He Gets a Private Detective License
David Knott helps clients retrieve unclaimed property from the government. The state has made it considerably harder for him to do that.
Ohio Pastor Criminally Charged for Letting People Sleep In Church. Again.
Plus: California's landmark law ending single-family-only zoning is struck down, Austin, Texas, moves forward with minimum lot size reform, and the pro-natalist case for pedestrian infrastructure.
Don't Fall For RFK Jr.'s Home Loan Scheme
Kennedy’s plan for government-backed mortgage bonds will do to housing what federal student loans have done to college tuition.
Colorado Bans HOAs From Banning Home Businesses
Homeowners associations are the most, and the least, libertarian form of governance.
Costly Complexity
The needless complexity of affordable housing programs are hurting people they're supposed to help.
Combat Homelessness by Ending Exclusionary Zoning
The Eighth Amendment provides little, if any, protection for the homeless. But courts can help them by striking down exclusionary zoning, which is the major cause of housing shortages that lead to homelessness.
California Is Trying To Drive Landlords Out of Business
Which is bad news for anyone hoping to rent a place to live.
Upcoming Event on "Solving the Nation's Housing Shortage" [update]
Economist Bryan Caplan, former National Association of Home Builders Director Jerry Howard, and I will speak at event sponsored by the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University.
Study Finds Occupational Licensing Laws Depress Wages in Other Industries
A Cato Institute policy brief found that while licensed occupations see a nice bump in pay, licensing requirements lower wages for other similar occupations.
The Supreme Court Rules Impact Fees Can Violate Your Property Rights Too
Plus: Zoning reform in Minnesota stalls, a New York housing "deal" does little for housing supply, and Colorado ends occupancy limits.
Social Media Platforms Have Property Rights Too
The push to regulate social media content infringes on rights guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment.
Say No to This: America's Fiscal Norms Are in Decline
Despite their informal nature, those norms have historically constrained U.S. fiscal policy. But they're eroding.
A New York Housing Grand Bargain?
Plus: Problems for Saudi Arabia's The Line, Hawaii considers a short-term rental crackdown, and when affordable housing mandates get you less affordable housing.
Mississippi Tethers Real Estate Agents to Outdated Rule
As remote work becomes the new normal, Mississippi's insistence on an archaic 50-mile radius for real estate supervision faces scrutiny.
New NBER Study Finds Covid Eviction Moratoria Increased Racial Discrimination
Moratoria caused landlords to be less willing to rent to black tenants.
Chicago Mayor's Solution to Homelessness Fails to Convince Voters
Instead of a hefty real estate tax hike, voters want more logical, long-term solutions to a genuine crisis.
The Catholic Case Against NIMBYism
Urban policy analyst Addison Del Mastro advances it in the Catholic journal America.
As America Becomes More Secular, American Religion Will Need To Become More Urban
It's in cities that greater absolute numbers of religious people can compensate for declining per capita rates of religious observance.
New Zealand's YIMBY Success - And How We Can Learn From it
New Zealand alleviated a severe housing shortage by liberalizing regulations that had previously blocked most new construction.
