Economy
Did Land-Use Restrictions Save the Rust Belt?
Without the onerous zoning that has made it hard to build in places like New York City and San Francisco, lagging regions might be even worse off than they already are.
For a growing chorus of urbanists and city-builders, the key to rebuilding our cities, reigniting innovation, and improving productivity lies in getting rid of the onerous zoning codes and land-use restrictions that are holding back much-needed development—particularly housing—in leading superstar cities and tech hubs like New York and San Francisco.
In a much cited and highly influential study of a year or so ago, two economists, Chang-Tai Hsieh of the University of Chicago and Enrico Moretti of the University of California at Berkeley estimated that land-use restrictions reduced U.S. GDP as a whole by roughly 9 percent a year—roughly $1.5 trillion a year in today’s dollars. That’s a big bite.