CONTENTS
Preface xi
1 Introduction 1
What is planning? 1
Prediction or control 4
Professional or political? 7
What ought planning to be: an economic viewpoint 9
2 Market Failure and Welfare Economics - A Justification
for Intervention 13
Introduction 13
The analysis of external diseconomies 16
Politics and the distribution of welfare 20
3 Evaluation and Planning 23
Introduction 23
Cost-benefit analysis 24
The valuation of social costs and benefits 26
PBSA/CIA/CIE 29
Alternative non-economic approaches 31
Economic evaluation and political choice 34
4 Controlling the Density of Development 37
Introduction 37
Residential density controls 38
Control of office floor space 42
Conclusion 46
5 Zoning and Conservation 49
Introduction 49
Zoning 50
Heritage, historic districts and conservation 55
Conclusions 58
6 Green Belts, Growth Controls and Urban Growth Boundaries 59
Introduction 59
The economics of a green belt 60
Green belts in Britain 62
The green belt in South Korea 67
Growth controls and urban growth boundaries in the USA 69
Evaluation 72
Conclusions 73
7 Planning and the Land Market 75
Introduction 75
Ricardian theory 76
An alternative (neoclassical) view 79
The supply of land for a particular use 82
Conclusions 87
8 The Division of the Spoils: Profits, Planning Gain, Premium
Seeking and Taxation 89
Introduction 89
A diagrammatic analysis 90
The beneficiaries 93
Planning gain, premium seeking and probability 103
Planning gain, premium seeking and welfare 108
Conclusions 110
9 Impact Fees 111
Introduction 111
Impact fees in theory and practice 112
Distributional effects 114
Impact fees in the United Kingdom 117
Developer contributions and environmental impact fees 119
Summary and conclusions 123
10 The Economic Consequences of Higher Land Values 125
Introduction 125
Land use policies and land prices 126
Adjustment in the housing market 131
Commercial and other uses 139
Factor price equalisation 143
Conclusions 145
11 The Macroeconomic Effects of Planning Constraints 147
Introduction 147
The elasticity of supply of housing and economic booms
and slumps 147
Housing land availability in Britain 150
The rate of saving and price of housing and property 153
Cities, growth and agglomeration economies 155
Competitiveness 158
Conclusions 160
12 Methods of Planning 163
Introduction 163
Controls and taxes 163
The degree of control of detail 170
The supply of land by government 176
Conclusions 180
13 Politics, Public Choice and Political Economy 183
Introduction 183
Economics, the regulator and the regulated 184
The farming industry and the rural population 186
Public participation, public choice 188
Economic welfare and the planning system 192
Sustainability 194
In conclusion 196
References 199
Index 207