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

Author

Listed:
  • 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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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Broockman, David & Elmendorf, Christopher S. & Kalla, Joshua, 2024. "The Symbolic Politics of Housing," OSF Preprints surv9, Center for Open Science.
    2. Guillaume Chapelle & Laurent Gobillon & Benjamin Vignolles, 2025. "Building without income mixing: Public housing quotas in France," Working Papers halshs-05039367, HAL.
    3. Clémence Tricaud, 2019. "Better alone? Evidence on the costs of intermunicipal cooperation," Economics Working Paper from Condorcet Center for political Economy at CREM-CNRS 2019-12-ccr, Condorcet Center for political Economy.
    4. Kulka. Amrita & Sood, Aradhya & Chiumenti, Nicholas, 2022. "How to Increase Housing A ordability? Understanding Local Deterrents to Building Multifamily Housing," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 635, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    5. repec:hal:journl:hal-03380333 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Oskari Harjunen & Tuukka Saarimaa & Janne Tukiainen, 2021. "Love Thy (Elected) Neighbor? Residential Segregation, Political Representation and Local Public Goods," Discussion Papers 138, Aboa Centre for Economics.
    7. Nicholas Chiumenti & Amrita Kulka & Aradhya Sood, 2022. "How to Increase Housing Affordability: Understanding Local Deterrents to Building Multifamily Housing," Working Papers 22-10, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    8. repec:osf:osfxxx:surv9_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Daniel A. Broxterman & Trenton Chen Jin, 2022. "House Prices, Government Quality, and Voting Behavior," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 64(2), pages 179-209, February.
    10. Fang, Limin & Stewart, Nathan & Tyndall, Justin, 2023. "Homeowner politics and housing supply," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    11. Cha, Jeremiah, 2025. "Building Representation: The Politics of Development, Diversity, and Institutional Norms," SocArXiv a934k_v2, Center for Open Science.
    12. Brian J. Asquith & Margaret C. Bock, 2022. "The Case for Dynamic Cities," Upjohn Working Papers 22-373, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    13. Michael Klien & Elisabeth Arnold, 2022. "Wohnkostenbelastung in Salzburg: Ursachen und Lösungsansätze," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 69436, June.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R31 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Housing Supply and Markets
    • R38 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Government Policy
    • H77 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Intergovernmental Relations; Federalism

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