Why the U.S. Can’t Afford a Green New Deal
As the list of Democratic presidential candidates grows, so do their promises. Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand and others have all backed the Green New Deal, which promises to address climate change and inequality by providing universal health care and creating millions of jobs. However, while the GND has lots of warm and fuzzy language, the climate change‐curbing veneer amounts to a Trojan horse for a bigger nationalization of the economy than seen under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Cato scholars have discussed the plan’s fatal flaws.
Privatizing Federal Electricity Infrastructure
Private‐sector utilities provide the bulk of electricity generation, transmission, and distribution in the United States. However, the federal government also owns a share of the nation’s electricity infrastructure. A new bulletin from Cato scholar Chris Edwards argues that federal power infrastructure should be privatized and that subsidies to rural electric cooperatives should be ended.
Zoning, Land‐Use Planning, and Housing Affordability
Local zoning and land‐use regulations have increased substantially over the decades. These constraints on land development within cities and suburbs aim to achieve various safety, environmental, and aesthetic goals. But the regulations have also tended to reduce the supply of housing, including multifamily and low‐income housing. A new study from Cato scholar Vanessa Brown Calder shows that rising land‐use regulation is associated with rising real average home prices in 44 states and that rising zoning regulation is associated with rising real average home prices in 36 states.
- “Zoning, Land‐Use Planning, and Housing Affordability,” by Vanessa Brown Calder
Experts
