Bill Fischel has taught economics at Darmouth College since 1973, when he received his PhD from Princeton after receiving his BA from Amherst College. Fischel's scholarship focuses on local government, especially land use regulation and property taxation. He has served on the Hanover, New Hampshire, zoning board and on the board of directors of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
“Fischel’s new book is the definitive work on the economics of
land-use regulation. In an engaging manner, Fischel lays out the
history, motivation, structure, and impact of land-use regulation
in the United States. It’s all here.”
*Wallace E. Oates, Distinguished University Professor
Emeritus, Department of Economics, University of Maryland*
“Everyone who cares about American cities and metropolitan
areas—and the laws that shape their development—should read this
excellent book. The fact that Fischel conveys his encyclopedic
knowledge on a subject that is routinely considered too technical
or too theoretical in such a clear, engaging, and accessible way is
an additional delight to the reader.”
*Sonia A. Hirt, Professor and Associate Dean for Academic
Affairs, College of Architecture and Urban Studies, Virginia
Tech*
“Written with wit and insight, Zoning Rules! provides the most
persuasive economic, political, and legal account of how Americans
control their most important personal investment—their home—by
treating zoning as a collective property right. Zoning Rules! is
both an accessible primer on local government law and politics for
the layperson, and an exposition of a sophisticated political and
economic theory about neighbors’ capacity to be a potent political
force, shaping everything from taxes and environmental quality to
schools and demography of American communities.”
*Roderick Hills, William T. Comfort III Professor of Law, New York
University School of Law*
“Zoning Rules! is much more than an update of Fischel’s 1985
classic, The Economics of Zoning Laws. An important addition, so
relevant to today’s world, is his discussion of zoning as a
mechanism for controlling suburban growth. Fischel deals with this
topic and others in the same style that his readers have come to
expect. He is a scholar, first and foremost, but he also knows how
to tell a good story. My students will love this book!”
*Jon Sonstelie, Professor of Economics, University of California
Santa Barbara*
“Bill Fischel’s latest zoning masterwork is a wake-up call for an
American public lulled into mass acceptance of zoning as an
invisible hand. Fischel unfolds the many faces and consequences of
zoning as a product of our own doing, showing that this American
institution needs to be wrestled to the ground. The good news?
We-the-people have the power to change it. This book is a necessary
primer for plotting a realistic strategy.”
*Emily Talen, Professor of Urban Planning, Arizona State
University*
“Fischel’s highly readable review of how zoning became such a
powerful governor of urban development and his identification of
the effects of its ordinances provides the information base for
dealing with one of urban America’s most important problems. For me
personally, it has been a déjà vu moment.”
*Journal of Regional Science, Volume 56, Number 5, 2016*
“Fischel’s book is the magnum opus of a life studying zoning laws,
and is required reading for anyone who weeks to reform the way our
nation regulates private property.”
*PanAm Post*
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