Jason Sorens
Want Starter Homes? Cut Minimum Lot Sizes
One of the big problems in the American housing market today is the dearth of “starter” homes. These are smaller, affordably priced homes available for sale and ownership, often appealing […]
Cuts to Indirect Federal Grants Could Change Research for the Better
On February 7, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that it will be reducing its negotiated proportion of grant funding that goes to overhead, or “indirect costs,” to 15 […]
Donald Shoup’s Crusade to Reimagine Urban Parking
“Free” parking has a huge cost. That’s the message that UCLA planning professor Donald Shoup, who died last week, took to the world. He lived to see his research gain […]
Can a State Just Opt Out of Federal Social Security?
The federal old-age programs, Social Security and Medicare, are going bust. The latest trustees reports show the Social Security trust fund running out of money in 10 years and the […]
Wealth Inequality Is a Result of Prosperity
“Wealth inequality does seem to be growing, but wealth is growing for the bottom 50 percent too, not just the top.” ~Jason Sorens
Does a Construction Cartel Explain Rising Rents?
“Stoller and Quintero may well be right that home-builder concentration does reduce housing supply and raise costs, but it hasn’t been proven yet, and it’s at best a minor factor compared to the zoning restrictions.” ~Jason Sorens
How ‘Equalizing’ School Finance Hurts Students and Taxpayers
“New Hampshire is the most fiscally decentralized state in the country, with about two-thirds of the total tax burden being municipal…Households have a lot of choice about where to live, and they exercise it.” ~Jason Sorens and Judge Glock
Against YIMBY Leninism
“Some people truly value restrictive land-use governance. They should be able to impose these strict rules on themselves, so long as they leave their non-consenting neighbors alone.” ~Jason Sorens
Biden’s Rent Control Proposal Poses a Real Threat to Renters and Housing Providers
“Because rent control will become part of the tax code, Democrats will be able to use the budget reconciliation process to enact it into law. That allows them to skirt the filibuster.” ~Jason Sorens
A Tale of Two States: Idaho and California
“People have continued to move away from California and to Idaho, but the main drivers have probably been less the affordability of housing and more the higher quality of life and better economic opportunities in general.” ~Jason Sorens
