Spatial spillovers of land use regulation in the United States

Christafore, David and Leguizamon, Susane (2012): Spatial spillovers of land use regulation in the United States.

Abstract

Evidence of spatial dependence in land use regulatory levels was first found in Brueckner (1998) for California cities. Recent research has not incorporated this consideration despite the considerable consequences of the relationship. We seek to expand the empirical findings to a current, larger and more diverse data set for municipalities across the United States. Analyzing regulatory levels and their determinants from over 2,000 municipalities and 300 Metropolitan Statistical Areas, we find strong evidence of spatial dependence at the local level and aggregated metropolitan level. This suggests that political competition, rather than welfare maximization exclusively, may be influencing the level of regulations adopted.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Land Use Regulation, Political Competition, Spatial Spillovers
• Subjects: H - Public Economics > H2 - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue > H23 - Externalities ; Redistributive Effects ; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies; H - Public Economics > H7 - State and Local Government ; Intergovernmental Relations > H73 - Interjurisdictional Differentials and Their Effects; R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R3 - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location > R38 - Government Policy

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