ABSTRACT
In recent years, policymakers and academics have paid increasing attention to the costs of federal, state, and local regulations. Perhaps nowhere is this research more important than in the area of housing. From 1990 to 2002, the median sales price of new homes rose by 52 percent, outpacing the change in the Consumer Price Index by a substantial margin (National Association of Home Builders, 2004). At least part of this increase in price is attributable to increased land costs caused by government regulation (Quigley and Raphael, 2004). Infl ated land and construction costs, in turn, reduce total housing supply and, in many jurisdictions, contribute to affordability problems.1
