Assistant Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, Princeton University. evansoltas.com/
Joined April 2012
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Feb 23
New paper (w/ Jon Gruber): What’s a building permit worth? And what can we learn about the importance of de-facto regulatory burdens versus de-jure constraints in housing development? We study these questions using a new setting: the market for land with preapproved permits.
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Evan Soltas retweeted
Jun 10
This Parking Spot Is Free. Should It Be? with @stefanoschen and @edenweingart: nytimes.com/interactive/2026…
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Evan Soltas retweeted
May 18
Excellent stuff by NYT Ed Board:“To bring down housing costs, cities and towns need to make two principal changes. First, they should loosen zoning laws to allow more multifamily homes. …Second, cities and towns should make it easier to build where it is already legal.”
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May 18
RT @berkie1: "Americans are rightly frustrated about the high cost of housing. Fortunately, the country has decades of evidence about how t…
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Evan Soltas retweeted
Mar 17
"There is now unambiguous, solid economic evidence, not just abstract economic theory, that rent control would make the affordability problems facing [Massachusetts] worse, not better."
- Jon Gruber, Chairman of the Economics Department at MIT
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Evan Soltas retweeted
Mar 11
An excellent speech worth watching from @brianschatz. Fixing the BTR provision in ROAD to Housing is the way to ensure it can be the biggest housing supply bill in decades.
Schatz says on the Senate floor "there is a problem" with the housing bill.
"There was an original idea to go after hedge fund ownership of housing. ... There is also a section that does a very bizarre thing, which is ... anybody who owns and rents out more than 350 units ... must sell."
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Evan Soltas retweeted
Feb 27
“Much of this confusion stems from a more fundamental disbelief that anyone could sincerely be motivated by a concern about the boring regulations that prevent the development of housing, transit, and clean energy.”
Feb 27
Abundance/YIMBY critics keep accusing us of being in the pocket of developers or big tech or a front to build data centers.
This critique rests on the belief that no one could sincerely think that regulatory reform is important enough to devote a political project to.
And so, since it's obviously marginal to the problem of housing affordability, it must be a front for some other nefarious purpose.
New, from me, in @TheArgumentMag: No, abundance is not part of a long con to create cover for data centers.
theargumentmag.com/p/stop-ca…
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Evan Soltas retweeted
Feb 27
In Los Angeles County, the permitting approval process is raising the price of vacant land by FIFTY PERCENT.
This is the kind of premium that comes with an oceanfront view or adding a pool.
Genuinely shocking.
(h/t @esoltas)
theargumentmag.com/p/stop-ca…
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Feb 23
New paper (w/ Jon Gruber): What’s a building permit worth? And what can we learn about the importance of de-facto regulatory burdens versus de-jure constraints in housing development? We study these questions using a new setting: the market for land with preapproved permits.
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Feb 23
But permitting is just one piece of the puzzle. Is it a big deal or not? We answer that question by relating permitting to the overall "gap" between home prices and construction cost. Permitting alone explains one third of the gap, suggesting it's a key barrier to housing supply.
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