Applying Theory to City Government and Political Committee's

Economics Economics Questions
1

Are there any books or papers from the Austrian School that cover city planning?

The last few months I’ve been attending / following our city council and local GOP. Surprisingly, my local GOP has a fair amount of people who share ideas and values that are usually associated to the “Ron Paul Types.”

The bad news is my city council shares the values that are to be expected by a local government with so much involvement in city ownership and business. On one occasion, I was able to voice my opposition to adding a new 800 home building project complete with a shopping center. Their primary incentive was the housing projects and the shopping center will bring jobs to our city.. (Edit: They were buying the land from a working ranch that was overpriced.)

I felt comfortable enough to reply in strong opposition to this using reason rather then “I’m not voting for you!” I’m also looking for more research on the problems that a local government causes on job creation and distortion on our local economy.

Thanks Again.

2

I don’t know of any books from an Austrian perspective, but Jane Jacobs is rather famous for being against most forms of urban planning. Thomas Sowell has recommended City Economics by Brendan O’Flaherty.

3

I’m really interested in any more you could tell us. An insider Austrian viewpoint.

Local govt is no different from any govt. Which means their primary job is to stay out of the way.

I would vote against any spending of money. And for any relaxation of regulations and tax cuts.

If that shopping center and housing project is such a money maker, why doesn’t anyone in the pvt sector want to build it?

Obviously, the point was not job creation, but giving that rancher some money.

And you know about job creation from spending taxpayer money, I’m sure. That it comes at the expense of job destruction somewhere else.

4

Well there isn’t really much more to add to what you just said. The only real difference between local government and national-scale government is that local economies are much more open. So politicians might argue that if they tax residents to build something inside the city, they’re actually creating a net benefit for the city by keeping money from flowing out of it. That obviously ignores the unintended consequences of such an action: the higher tax rates reduce incentives for people to live, work, and invest in the city.

The one thing you didn’t mention in your post was the harmful effect of zoning laws, building codes, and other regulations. These restrictions add to the cost of doing business within a city’s borders and ultimately reduce consumer utility and increase traffic by restricting mixed-use land-use.

5

The Private Production of Urban Planning - Daniel Coleman