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es farther out. Thus, urban decentralization or 'sprawl' is not a new phenomenon; it has been around as long as cities have been studied. However, this does not imply that suburban (or rural) areas are unaffected by the economic fortunes of central cities. In fact, a wealth of evidence suggests that the central cities and suburbs of most metropolitan areas rise and fall together, though growth rates of population, income, employment and the like are usually faster in the suburbs.

 

How does land use affect development? The United States, about 3.5 percent of land is urban (though despite its small area, the value of urban land is greater than the value of rural land). The amount of land in urban uses in most parts of the country has been growing more rapidly than the population. The majority of built-up urban land is used for housing, although roads and commercial uses are also significant.

 

Developing cities, towns, villages and rural areas all require that sufficient real estate be developed (or redeveloped) in appropriate locations. Of course, real estate development can generate significant externalities (e.g., from additional traffic, storm water runoff, infrastructure requirements).

 

For all these reasons, real estate development is, and surely should be, a regulated activity. The key question, however, is how it should be regulated. We have already mentioned that overly stringent development regulations in some metropolitan areas adversely affect the affordability of housing. Still, in recent years concern has mounted in many quarters that development is insufficiently regulated, or at least poorly regulated. The current 'Smart Growth' initiatives to control urban sprawl undertaken in many states are testimony to this concern. But the devil is in the details: what is smart, exactly? It will be important to ensure that, as “Smart Growth” programs are implemented in the years ahead, housing and real estate costs do not rise in excess of other benefits received from those regulations.

 

Economic Development: What Works? What Doesn't?

 

If one thing is critical to economic development today, it is the relationship between education and human capital formation. Many studies show strong private and social returns from education. Forty years ago, households headed by a college graduate had incomes that were about two-thirds greater than households headed by a high school dropout. Over the last forty years, the median incomes of dropout-headed households have fallen by a third, while the median incomes of households headed by someone with a college degree have increased by over one-third, so that now the typical household income 'premium' for college over dropping out of high school is an astounding 250 percent.

 

But actually improving school performance is more difficult than agreeing on its importance. The link between sch本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。