"Scholars writing about how the federal government should respond to state and local fiscal stress fall into roughly two camps. One group argues that federal bailouts create excessive moral hazard. Another group argues that federal aid is instead a necessary form of macroeconomic stimulus given...

Generations of scholarship on the political economy of land use have tried to explain a world in which tony suburbs use zoning to keep out development but big cities allow untrammeled growth because of the political influence of developers. But as demand to live in them has increased, many of...

Employing tools drawn from economics and urban studies - particularly agglomeration economics, public choice, and the wisdom of Woody Allen's classic film Annie Hall - this essay provides a theoretical explanation for the prevalence of big city political corruption. The essay argues that the...

Many urban areas use non-cumulative zoning - zoning exclusive to one use (typically manufacturing) that prohibits other uses even if those uses are considered less noxious. Proponents of this zoning claim that it is necessary to reduce the degree to which urban manufacturers are held responsible...