The rebound of private zoning: property rights and local governance in urban land use

NIMBY and regulatory takings are two well-known phenomena associated with land-use change in US cities. I claim that both are manifestations of what economists refer to as a 'hold-up problem' and analyze how fast-growing private zoning, namely the ground-lease system and common interest developments, have evolved to respond to these problems. My argument is based on two spatial facts: the consumption of local collective goods is bundled with land and property; property owners have only limited ex post mobility. By comparing five different combinations of property rights and land use control, I submit that private zoning is most efficient in relieving the agency problem in urban land use. Policy implications of NIMBY and equity issues of private zoning are also discussed.