ABSTRACT
High land values are at the root of the housing crises in American cities. Land-based tools such as the sale of public land, eminent domain and regulatory takings, land monopolies, land-use zoning, and property-secured lending have been used and misused throughout history to attain socio-economic objectives. In 1993, county voters approved the Forest Conservation Initiative, which preserved open space and wildlife corridors through private lands within the national forest, through a minimum lot size of 40 acres. The public sector increases the value of private land by granting building rights and subsidized infrastructure, and the landowner in turn caps the rents on a small share of the new housing. The rise of extreme wealth inequality in the twenty-first century is disrupting this urban growth machine. Land values are rising faster than the economy in urban areas with a concentration of wealth, especially in parts of California. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
