TY - JOUR
T1 - Reassessing the Impact of Local Control
T2 - When Smaller Local Governments Permit More Housing
AU - Larsen, Martin Vinæs
AU - Kettel, Laura
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), 2025.
PY - 2025
Y1 - 2025
N2 - Housing scarcity is a widespread social and economic problem. Prior studies have attributed this scarcity to local control over land use, which has been seen as making policy makers more responsive to small electorates. Challenging this argument, we suggest that smaller jurisdictions have stronger incentives and greater capacity to raise tax revenue by building housing. Therefore, expanding the electorate that policy makers are responsive to could lead to a more restrictive housing policy. To explore this question empirically, we study a reform that consolidated some Danish municipalities, increasing the size of their jurisdiction. Using a difference-in-differences design, we find that consolidated municipalities issue fewer permits and complete less housing than smaller jurisdictions. Our study thus shows that politicians permitted more housing when they were accountable to a smaller electorate. This upends conventional wisdom and suggests that local control need not be at odds with more liberal land use policy.
AB - Housing scarcity is a widespread social and economic problem. Prior studies have attributed this scarcity to local control over land use, which has been seen as making policy makers more responsive to small electorates. Challenging this argument, we suggest that smaller jurisdictions have stronger incentives and greater capacity to raise tax revenue by building housing. Therefore, expanding the electorate that policy makers are responsive to could lead to a more restrictive housing policy. To explore this question empirically, we study a reform that consolidated some Danish municipalities, increasing the size of their jurisdiction. Using a difference-in-differences design, we find that consolidated municipalities issue fewer permits and complete less housing than smaller jurisdictions. Our study thus shows that politicians permitted more housing when they were accountable to a smaller electorate. This upends conventional wisdom and suggests that local control need not be at odds with more liberal land use policy.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105008024756&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S1537592725000799
DO - 10.1017/S1537592725000799
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:105008024756
SN - 1537-5927
JO - Perspectives on Politics
JF - Perspectives on Politics
ER -