Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by John Kroencke

The Centre for Enterprise, Markets & Ethics @theceme.bsky.social · Jan 27

Book Review:

In 'Scarcity', Fredrik Albritton Jonsson and Carl Wennerlind set out a comparison of ideas about the use of natural resources and economic organisation, but the treatment of material is at times superficial and opportunities to engage with important contemporary debates are missed.

1 1

Reposted by John Kroencke

The Centre for Enterprise, Markets & Ethics @theceme.bsky.social · Jan 20

A selection of some recent book reviews on the topic of trade and trade policy.

(links below)

1 1 1

John Kroencke @johnkroencke.bsky.social · Jan 20

@theceme.bsky.social !

John Kroencke @johnkroencke.bsky.social · Nov 27

60/40

Reposted by John Kroencke

The Institute for Fiscal Studies @theifs.bsky.social · Nov 22

Elaine Drayton, @peterlevell.bsky.social and @david-sturrock.bsky.social's paper finds that England is bad at building homes in areas with rising demand: ifs.org.uk/articles/eng...

This map allows you to examine changes in housing supply and prices over 25 years at a local level.

[2/8]

England has a poor record of building homes where they are needed | Institute for Fiscal Studies

This comment discusses how well housebuilding in England has responded to changes in local demand over the last 25 years.

ifs.org.uk

1 1 2

John Kroencke @johnkroencke.bsky.social · Nov 22

End of the year browman consumer surplus list

1 3

Reposted by John Kroencke

John Kroencke @johnkroencke.bsky.social · Nov 20

Urbanists often look to places like zoning-free Houston, the private places of St Louis, and privately-developed exurban communities like Irvine. There we see rules about land use emerge between residents and via developers.

I wrote about another example.

theceme.substack.com/p/private-pl...
🧵

2 8 20

John Kroencke @johnkroencke.bsky.social · Nov 20

All the news that’s unfit to print

1

John Kroencke @johnkroencke.bsky.social · Nov 20

cc: @sambowman.co @bswud.bsky.social @createstreets.bsky.social @johnrmyers.bsky.social

1

John Kroencke @johnkroencke.bsky.social · Nov 20

Read more about all of this (and more!) in my publication from last year which is available in print, pdf, and web-friendly Substack

(theceme.substack.com/p/private-pl...)

1

John Kroencke @johnkroencke.bsky.social · Nov 20

We continue to see some of these features (especially in commercial tenant curation and commercial street investment) but that is a topic for another day!

1

John Kroencke @johnkroencke.bsky.social · Nov 20

Of interest, is that this rebuilding also included multi-story houses being replaced by purpose-built flats (as in Howards End)

Much of this, of course, also occurred in areas with less concentrated land ownership. Though on the great estates this was done in more planned ways.

1

John Kroencke @johnkroencke.bsky.social · Nov 20

In the most extreme examples whole portions of neighborhoods like Hans Town and the area surrounding Mount Street in Mayfair (pictured) were rebuilt at a higher density in ways more suited to the market.

1

John Kroencke @johnkroencke.bsky.social · Nov 20

New floors were often added as part of the lease renewal. Mansion flats replaced terraced houses. Stables became mews houses. But even more interestingly, the great estates have examples of comprehensive regeneration.

1

John Kroencke @johnkroencke.bsky.social · Nov 20

This preserved market incentives to intensify as the price of land rose. When leases on a street came due, the landowner (and builders) could reassess the suitability of what was built (taking into account the total value of the area) without the issues of land assembly (leases were coordinated).

1

John Kroencke @johnkroencke.bsky.social · Nov 20

When the lease ended (terms varied but they were rarely longer than 99 years) the landlord would have ownership of the building itself and the underlying land.

1

John Kroencke @johnkroencke.bsky.social · Nov 20

The initial construction benefited from the ability to capture spillover effects through the concentrated ownership of the land. Continuing ownership also created a long-term pecuniary and reputational interest.

1

John Kroencke @johnkroencke.bsky.social · Nov 20

I show how the private planning enabled (builders often played crucial roles) and practiced by the estates allowed coordinated responses to changing markets. As tastes changed so did neighborhoods.

1

John Kroencke @johnkroencke.bsky.social · Nov 20

Because of the class of resident in the Grosvenor's Mayfair this also included things like restrictions on building works during the London social season (as seen in Bridgerton)

1

John Kroencke @johnkroencke.bsky.social · Nov 20

Through legal covenants and discretionary control they were also able to restrict negative spillovers by coordinating use and prohibiting users like butchers and blacksmiths whose work might annoy neighbors.

1

John Kroencke @johnkroencke.bsky.social · Nov 20

[Despite his being British, Pigou's foundational work on externalities discounts this exact calculation. "uncompensated services are rendered when resources are invested in private parks in cities; for these, even
though the public is not admitted to them, improve the air of the neighbourhood"]

1

John Kroencke @johnkroencke.bsky.social · Nov 20

John Weale in 1851 wrote "of course the quantity of ground appropriated to these ventilators is merely calculated so that the increased rental of houses enjoying the sight of the tree, may compensate for the loss of ground from the immeadiate purposes of the speculator"

1

John Kroencke @johnkroencke.bsky.social · Nov 20

The estates were able to provide things such as green space (including London’s famous private garden squares) when they added net value because they owned the surrounding real estate which captured the value.

1 1

John Kroencke @johnkroencke.bsky.social · Nov 20

In contracting with builders, agents of the landlord would engage in rudimentary site planning for basic infrastructure. They would also set parameters of what exactly the developers would agree to build and how common infrastructure was to be funded.

1

John Kroencke @johnkroencke.bsky.social · Nov 20

The legal and financial conditions of the time meant that this land was most often developed via leasehold. Builder/developers would pay to take out a termed lease on land owned by a landlord. Upon building a finished product they could sell the lease on but the lease would ultimately revert back.

1 1