Shoup’s work on parking is relevant and timely. I can’t help but feel bitter however, that his advocacy for Land Value Taxation has been eclipsed by this issue. While parking minimums need addressing, the theft of land rent from the commons (yes I say theft and I mean it) is much more fundamental an issue. Sadly, it seems that many economists have been discouraged from talking about it. “It’s too hard a sell, nobody will go for it, too many people get too rich from it for it to ever go away.” I can only hope spreading awareness of the parking problem will lead people to look into the much deeper issues at play.
I am an unapologetic Shoupista, but there's something I would like to point out for the sake of expanding outreach. "Parking is never really free" is true of all goods and services, including some that are uncontroversial public goods. Municipal buildings, parks, streets, and sidewalks are not free in that sense, either, and nobody is writing a book titled, "The High Cost of Free Municipal Buildings." Much like induced demand, we should be aware that "The High Cost of Free Parking" is a normative theory and this is not lost on those whom we are attempting to convert. In the cases of induced demand and free parking, the status quo is imagining car infrastructure as a public good and our burden is convincing them that car infra is not a public good.
Donald Shoup Dogg sounds like the Jane Jacobs (or Jeff Speck) of parking. I love the idea of parking benefit districts as you describe it here.
Shoup’s work on parking is relevant and timely. I can’t help but feel bitter however, that his advocacy for Land Value Taxation has been eclipsed by this issue. While parking minimums need addressing, the theft of land rent from the commons (yes I say theft and I mean it) is much more fundamental an issue. Sadly, it seems that many economists have been discouraged from talking about it. “It’s too hard a sell, nobody will go for it, too many people get too rich from it for it to ever go away.” I can only hope spreading awareness of the parking problem will lead people to look into the much deeper issues at play.
I am an unapologetic Shoupista, but there's something I would like to point out for the sake of expanding outreach. "Parking is never really free" is true of all goods and services, including some that are uncontroversial public goods. Municipal buildings, parks, streets, and sidewalks are not free in that sense, either, and nobody is writing a book titled, "The High Cost of Free Municipal Buildings." Much like induced demand, we should be aware that "The High Cost of Free Parking" is a normative theory and this is not lost on those whom we are attempting to convert. In the cases of induced demand and free parking, the status quo is imagining car infrastructure as a public good and our burden is convincing them that car infra is not a public good.