The economic case for state land use decision-making

The case for the economic approach to land use decision-making at the state-level is compelling. Yet it is important not to limit the analysis only to economic objectives. Humans also are social creatures and many want their fellow citizens to meet basic needs of food, shelter and clothing. Humans also value the natural environment even though these preferences often cannot be articulated through market forces. Thus, social and environmental preferences need to be considered along with purely economic values. Furthermore, as illustrated above, state government is an appropriate decision-making unit for land use, even though land use is always embedded in a particular locality, i.e., at a smaller level of government. Important reasons for this include economies of scale that can only be achieved at the state level and the presence of spillover effects that do not stop at county borders and therefore cannot effectively be addressed by county government acting alone.