Measuring the Effects of Municipal Zoning Regulations: A Survey

Over the past 25 years a large literature has developed that attempts to measure the impact of zoning regulations on real estate markets. This vast zoning literature is also quite diverse; studies differ significantly in methodology, data and the results obtained. In this paper we systematically survey each of the four general types of zoning studies: externality studies, exogenous land-use zoning studies, studies of characteristics zoning and endogenous zoning studies. Our review is designed to achieve the following objectives: (1) to summarise existing studies and point out methodological problems; (2) to compare different studies to determine what may be causing the differences in results that are obtained; (3) to determine what conclusions can be drawn from the existing body of research; and (4) to suggest how the shortcomings of previous research can be avoided and thereby provide a guide for future research.

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