Antiplanner Policy Briefs

Policy briefs are two- to six-page in-depth analyses of important land-use and transportation issues. These were originally called Transportation Policy Briefs. Because they don’t all deal with transportation, starting with number 6 they are called Antiplanner Policy Briefs.

To make it easier to find policy briefs on specific topics, you can sort by topic. Topics include Automobiles, Government, High-Speed Rail, Highways, Housing, Intercity Passenger Trains, Natural Resources, Regional Planning, Transit, and Transportation. Some briefs cover more than one of these but only the dominant topic is listed for each brief.

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150Toward Global Peace & ProsperityGovernment
149The Automobile WonAutomobiles
148Transit's Zombie FutureTransit
147America's Two Housing MarketsHousing
146America's Volatile Housing MarketsHousing
145Property Rights and the New FeudalismHousing
144Americans Fleeing Dense Cities & SuburbsRegional Planning
143Old Technologies for New StartsTransit
142The Myth of Rail MobilityIntercity Passenger Trains
141Airlines: Our #2 Source of MobilityTransportation
140A Century-Old Love of Rail MonopoliesIntercity Passenger Trains
139Traffic Safety: A Matter of DesignHighways
138Transit Crime Rates on the RiseTransit
137State and Local Highway Subsidies in 2019 and 2020Highways
136Truckers, Congestion, and Class ConflictHighways
1352021: The Year Transit Failed to RecoverTransit
134America's Rising Housing PricesHousing
133How Cato Sold Out California Property OwnersHousing
132Boulder's Open Spaces and the Marshall FireNatural Resources
131Killed by the Pandemic: The Virginia Railway ExpressTransit
130U.S. Road Conditions and Performance in 2020Highways
129Why U.S. Infrastructure Is So ExpensiveTransportation
128Sutton Mountain Wilderness Yes, Monument NoNatural Resources
127The Midwest Rail Plan: A Disaster in the MakingHigh-Speed Rail
126Mobility Principles for a Prosperous WorldTransportation
125Transit 2020: The First Year of the PandemicTransit
124A Data-Driven Approach to Transportation SafetyHighways
123The Affordable-Housing Industrial ComplexHousing
122The Truth About Western WildfireNatural Resources
121The Morality of Protecting Endangered SpeciesNatural Resources
120Addressing Droughts with Water MarketsNatural Resources
119Regional Transportation Planning After COVIDRegional Planning
118China's Red Lines: A Failure of Central PlanningHousing
117Giving Transit Its Due PriorityTransit
116Charting Transit Values and TrendsTransit
115Moving the Overton WindowGovernment
114The World's Finest RailroadsTransportation
113The Failure of Transit in the Post-COVID EraTransit
112Moving from Transit Apartheid to Transportation EquityTransit
111Cost Overruns and Ridership ShortfallsTransit
110The War on Cars and Delays to Emergency ResponseHighways
109Reinventing Transit for a Post-COVID WorldTransit
108Housing Affordability from 1950 Through 2019Housing
107How San Jose Held Up Google for $200 MillionRegional Planning
106Jane Jacobs and the Mid-Rise ManiaRegional Planning
105Does Transit Cost Effectively Help Low-Income People?Transit
104San Diego's Insane $163.5 Billion PlanRegional Planning
103$85 Billion for Empty Buses and RailcarsTransit
102The Case Against AmtrakIntercity Passenger Trains
101Restoring Trust to the Highway Trust FundHighways
100Making Massachusetts Housing AffordableHousing
99Can America's Power Plants Support Electric Vehicles?Automobiles
98Amtrak Can't Connect UsIntercity Passenger Trains
97Miami Affordable Housing ViceHousing
96Mileage-Based User Fees for Highway FinanceHighways
95Housing Affordability and the PandemicHousing
94Applying Value Engineering to Transit ProjectsTransit
93Should Seattle Aspire to Grow to 2 Million People?Housing
92Japan's Addiction: The Dark Side of the Bullet TrainsHigh-Speed Rail
91Using the Law of Large Proportions to Save EnergyAutomobiles
90Are Accidents of History Irreversible?Intercity Passenger Trains
89Transit 2020: Subsidies Up, Ridership DownTransit
88Increasing Safety, Improving the EconomyHighways
87Americans Are on the MoveHousing
86How Much Is a Trillion Dollars?Government
85Transit: Browner Than EverTransit
84Supercommuting and Marchetti’s ConstantHighways
83Closing the China-US Freeway GapHighways
82Ten Reasons Why Transit Parity Is a Bad IdeaTransit
81What Infrastructure Crisis? Highways & Bridges Are FineHighways
80How Transit Subsidies Harm Low-Income PeopleTransit
79The Obscure Origins of the Deep StateGovernment
78Conventional Buses: Transit's 93-Year-Old TechnologyTransit
77Transit's Diminishing Returns in 2019Transit
7610 Reasons Not to Build High-Speed Rail in the U.S.High-Speed Rail
75BLM: Following the MoneyNatural Resources
74High-Capacity Transit DeceptionsTransit
73New Transit Lines Won't Relieve CongestionTransit
72The Affordable Housing ScamHousing
71Recent and Long-Term Housing TrendsHousing
70The Last Pre-Pandemic Snapshot of the USATransportation
69Transit and the Mania for DensityHousing
68Rapid Bus: Finding the Right ModelTransit
67The Streetcar Intelligence TestTransit
66Which Rapid-Transit Lines Should Be Replaced with Buses?Transit
65The Transit-Industrial ComplexTransit
64Why the Hyperloop Will FailHigh-Speed Rail
63Why Trump Should Veto the Great American Outdoors ActNatural Resources
62SunFail: Orlando's Commuter-Rail DisasterTransit
61High-Speed Rail: Yesterday's Transportation TomorrowHigh-Speed Rail
60The Mystery of the Missing Motorcoach MilesTransportation
59Selling Federal Assets to Pay the National DebtNatural Resources
58To Densify or Not to Densify: The Debate ContinuesHousing
57Demand the Right to Pay for Your Own Transportation!Transportation
56Transit Lost 84 Percent of Riders in AprilTransit
55The Hubris of Central PlannersGovernment
54Reducing Poverty by Increasing Auto OwnershipAutomobiles
53Transportation After the PandemicTransportation
52The Rise and Fall of Downtown USARegional Planning
51The Virtues of Autos and SuburbsAutomobiles
50The MCU School of Transportation PlanningTransportation
49Class, Not Race, Is the Issue in the PandemicGovernment
48What Were They Thinking? Post-1980 Commuter TrainsTransit
47Transportation Resiliency in a World of Black SwansTransportation
46Light Rail DisastersTransit
45Dude, Where's My Driverless Car?Automobiles
44The Induced-Demand ConHighways
43The Futility of Trying to Reduce DrivingAutomobiles
42TriMet Compounding 40 Years of Bad DecisionsTransit
41A Critique of L.A. Metro's 28 by 2028 PlanTransit
40Time to End State & Local Highway SubsidiesHighways
392019 Ridership Numbers Reveal Transit's Dim FutureTransit
38Seattle's Anti-Auto Policies Hurt the PoorAutomobiles
37Honolulu's Terrible Folly and a Transit MysteryTransit
36Make America Affordable Again by Ending the New FeudalismHousing
35Transit Capital vs. Operating CostsTransit
3427 Quintillion Transit ChartsTransit
33Urban Transit Is an Energy HogTransit
32Costs Up, Riders Down: 2018 Transit DatabaseTransit
31A Tale of Three Private High-Speed Rail PlansHigh-Speed Rail
30Does Capital Spending Boost Transit Ridership?Transit
29Reducing Mobility to Boost TransitTransit
28Is Amtrak Guilty of Securities Fraud?Intercity Passenger Trains
27Transportation Planning for an Unattainable FantasyTransportation
26Scapegoating Ride Hailing to Justify Transit SubsidiesTransit
25Making Cities Safe for Pedestrians and CyclistsHighways
24The Case for Single-Family NeighborhoodsHousing
23Home Prices in Growth-Restricted Areas Rise HigherHousing
222018 Census Data Show Transit in DeclineTransit
21How the New Starts Fund Harms Transit RidersTransit
20Transportation Costs & Subsidies by ModeTransportation
19Congestion Is a Problem, Not a SolutionHighways
18Countering the Forest Service Fire NarrativeNatural Resources
17Debunking the Fake Farmland CrisisRegional Planning
16Should the U.S. Be More Like Europe?Transportation
15Transit Ridership Falls Another 2.9% in JuneTransit
14Solving the Amtrak ConundrumIntercity Passenger Trains
13Front Range Commuter Rail Is a Terrible IdeaTransit
12No One Forced Americans to DriveAutomobiles
11Does Rail Transit Generate Economic Development?Transit
10Los Angeles Metro’s New Climate StrategyTransit
9The Best Are None Too Good: Ranking Transit AgenciesTransit
8Reports from the Front Lines in the War on HomeownershipHousing
7Thanks to New York, April Transit Ridership Grew by 2%Transit
61,080 Transit Charts in a Single SpreadsheetTransit
5How Vital Is Transit In Your Region? Part 2: DOT DataTransit
4How Vital Is Transit In Your Region? Part 1: Census DataTransit
3Transit Death Spiral: First Quarter Ridership Down 2.6%Transit
2A Tale of Two Train Disasters: FasTracks & California High-Speed RailHigh-Speed Rail
1Transit’s Growing Costs Drive Away Low-Income CommutersTransit

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