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Warding off Development: Local Control, Housing Supply, and NIMBYs

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  • Evan Mast

    (W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research)

Abstract

Local control of land-use regulation creates a not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) problem that can suppress housing construction, contributing to rising prices and potentially slowing economic growth. I study how increased local control affects housing production by exploiting a common electoral reform—changing from “at-large†to “ward†elections for town council. These reforms, which are not typically motivated by housing markets, shrink each representative’s constituency from the entire town to one ward. Results from a variety of difference-in-differences estimators show that this decentralization decreases housing units permitted by 20%, with similar effects on multi- and single-family permits. Effects are larger in whiter and higher-income towns.

Suggested Citation

  • Evan Mast, 2024. "Warding off Development: Local Control, Housing Supply, and NIMBYs," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 106(3), pages 671-680, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:restat:v:106:y:2024:i:3:p:671-680
    DOI: 10.1162/rest_a_01192
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