[PEN-L:3850] Re: subsidies for sprawl

[ROSSERJB@xxxxxxx]

     This is an interesting topic, but as a sometime urban
economist (one of my all too many hats) I warn that you all
will have trouble finding any estimates that are worth very
much on the costs of urban sprawl.  I have done a quick search
of a bunch of lit in my office and found zero, other than some
vague moaning and groaning.  Without getting into details, there
would be some very serious conceptual problems with any such
estimate leaving any such open to severe doubts.  The biggest
is:  what is the appropriate benchmark against which to measure
the status quo?  If one alters the status quo, does one allow for
a different infrastructure and the costs of getting it as well as
all the (unpredictable) relative price changes that would result?
     Good luck on finding some numbers, and I shall be curious to
see them if anybody finds some.  But don't hold your breath on
finding anything that does not rely on some pretty flimsy assumptions.
BTW, this does not mean there is no problem of urban sprawl, just that
it is very hard to measure its costs.
Barkley Rosser