Showing archive for: “Property Land Use & Real Estate Law”
BEAD’s Second Act: The Future Is Pending Approval
The road to rural access to AI-enabled services runs through the permit office. Chips, data centers, and electricity get the attention, but delivering AI to a farmer’s field, a rural clinic, or a factory floor takes a broadband network. Building it means navigating utility poles, road crossings, and public rights-of-way—each with a gatekeeper who can ... BEAD’s Second Act: The Future Is Pending Approval
The Data Center Chessboard Has No Pause Button
The whole country ostensibly wants America to win the artificial intelligence (AI) race. A striking number, however, would prefer someone else’s town to host the data centers, power plants, transmission lines, and cooling systems required to run it. Adam Smith knew the type. In “The Theory of Moral Sentiments,” he warned against the “man of ... The Data Center Chessboard Has No Pause Button
The Last Mile Is a Paper Trail: Why Broadband Gets Stuck
Everyone wants faster broadband—no one wants to wait for the permits. Modern communications infrastructure doesn’t stand still. Providers must keep investing in upgrades and expansion to meet consumer demand. Next-generation applications—artificial intelligence (AI), artificial reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR)—will require robust infrastructure to support them. That infrastructure depends on sustained investment from a wide ... The Last Mile Is a Paper Trail: Why Broadband Gets Stuck
Why No One Likes Land Taxes
Economists and [insert basically every other group of people] often don’t agree. Take, for instance, the recent discussion of price controls. The headline of this opinion piece on the subject in The New York Times literally begins with “Economists Hate This Idea.” Yet voters aren’t so skeptical. (I’m not ready to say the idea has ... Why No One Likes Land Taxes
What Is a Barrier to Entry?
Why do monopolies exist? Many textbooks point to barriers to entry as a cause of monopolies. Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok’s textbook says: “In addition to patents, government regulation and economies of scale, monopolies may be created whenever there is a significant barrier to entry, something that raises the cost to new firms of entering the industry.” ... What Is a Barrier to Entry?
COVID-19, Ghost Flights, and Emerging Property Rights in Airport Slots
One of the most visible economic effects of the COVID-19 spread is the decrease in airline customers. Alec Stapp alerted me to the recent outrage over “ghost flights,” where airlines fly nearly empty planes to maintain their “slots.” The airline industry is unfortunately in economic freefall as governments prohibit and travelers pull back on air ... COVID-19, Ghost Flights, and Emerging Property Rights in Airport Slots
Local Barriers to Entry: Arlington Beer Garden Edition
Last week I posted about the regulatory barriers facing an ice cream shop in San Francisco. A student passes along a story that hits a bit closer to home: the sale of beer right here in Arlington County. Apparently, the owner of the Westover Beer Garden has had enough: It’s been a contentious couple of ... Local Barriers to Entry: Arlington Beer Garden Edition
The Bulldozer Solution to the Housing Crisis
My inaugural blog on two-sided markets did not elicit much reaction from TOTM readers. Perhaps it was too boring. In a desperate attempt to generate a hostile comment from at least one housing advocate, I have decided to advocate bulldozing homes in foreclosure as one (of several) means to relieve the housing crisis. Not with ... The Bulldozer Solution to the Housing Crisis
Government ownership of land
I love our national parks as much as the next guy (probably more, having visited every major one and dozens of smaller ones, and loving every minute of nearly every visit), but can someone tell me why the federal government owns so much of our country? Some maps tell the story. See here and here. ... Government ownership of land
Barriers to Entry
I have had occasion to think about the relationship between property rights and barriers to entry lately, and was reminded of the following line which I thought well worth posting on its own: “Even the operation of an unregulated market system presupposes the general recognition of property rights, but the problem of defining ownership is ... Barriers to Entry
Saving Tigers (and Other Endangered Species)
Want to save endangered species? Turn them into private assets. So argues Barun Mitra in today’s NYT. In Sell the Tiger to Save It, Mitra observes that our thirty year-old conservation policy, which prohibits harm to individual tigers and the trading of tiger products, has failed to increase the tiger population. The problem, Mitra argues, ... Saving Tigers (and Other Endangered Species)
What's wrong with what Eduardo Penalver thinks is wrong with property rights initiatives
Over at Co-op, guest blogger Eduardo Penalver posts this screed against property rights initiatives like Oregon’s Measure 37 (about which I blogged here) and Washington’s proposed Initiative I-933. To my mind he gets it pretty much completely wrong, so I thought I should weigh in. First, he claims that “by most accounts” Oregon’s Measure 37 ... What's wrong with what Eduardo Penalver thinks is wrong with property rights initiatives
