URBAN-GROWTH CONTROLS WITH RESIDENT LANDOWNERS

This paper develops a growth-control model that is more realistic than those available in the literature, by replacing the usual class of ab sentee landowners by resident landowners, who live within the city. Th e analysis shows that resident landowners have a weaker taste for grow th controls than their absentee counterparts. The reason is that, sinc e the resident landowners pay rent to themselves, a control-induced es calation of rent for the land they occupy confers no benefits. Absente e landowners, by contrast, gain from rent increases throughout the cit y, so favor more stringent controls. The model is generalized in a num ber of directions.