Debunking Growth Myths

[Greg Brown <gregb@alaskapacific.edu>]

Visionaries:

I'm sending this message to my local politicians
and planners.  I suggest others do it as well.

----------
Donella Meadows' The Global Citizen, February 25, 1999

               URBAN GROWTH MEANS LOWER TAXES -- AND OTHER MYTHS



   We need to bring in business to bring down taxes. This development
   will give us jobs. Environmental protection will hurt the economy.
   Growth is good for us.

   If we've heard those arguments once, we've heard them a thousand
   times, stated with utmost certainty and without the slightest
   evidence. That's because there is no evidence. Or rather, there is
   plenty of evidence, most of which disproves these deeply held
   pro-growth beliefs.

   Here is a short summary of some of the evidence. For more, see Eben
   Fodor's new book Better, Not Bigger, which lists and debunks the
   following "Twelve Big Myths of Growth."

   Myth 1: Growth provides needed tax revenues. Check out the tax rates
   of cities larger than yours. There are a few exceptions but the
   general rule is: the larger the city, the higher the taxes. That's
   because development requires water, sewage treatment, road
   maintenance, police and fire protection, garbage pickup -- a host of
   public services. Almost never do the new taxes cover the new costs.
   Fodor says, "the bottom line on urban growth is that it rarely pays
   its own way."

   Myth 2: We have to grow to provide jobs. But there's no guarantee
that
   new jobs will go to local folks. In fact they rarely do. If you
   compare the 25 fastest growing cities in the U.S. to the 25 slowest
   growing, you find no significant difference in unemployment rates.
   Says Fodor: "Creating more local jobs ends up attracting more people,

   who require more jobs."

   Myth 3: We must stimulate and subsidize business growth to have good
   jobs. A "good business climate" is one with little regulation, low
   business taxes, and various public subsidies to business. A study of
   areas with good and bad business climates (as ranked by the U.S.
   Chamber of Commerce and the business press) showed that states with
   the best business ratings actually have lower growth in per capita
   incomes than those with the worst. Fodor: "This surprising outcome
may
   be due to the emphasis placed by good-business-climate states on
   investing resources in businesses rather than directly in people."

   Myth 4: If we try to limit growth, housing prices will shoot up.
   Sounds logical, but it isn't so. A 1992 study of 14 California
cities,
   half with strong growth controls, half with none, showed no
difference
   in average housing prices. Some of the cities with strong growth
   controls had the most affordable housing, because they had active
   low-cost housing programs. Fodor says the important factor in housing

   affordability is not so much house cost as income level, so
   development that provides mainly low-paying retail jobs makes housing

   unaffordable.

   Myth 5: Environmental protection hurts the economy. According to a
   Bank of America study the economies of states with high environmental

   standards grew consistently faster than those with weak regulations.
   The Institute of Southern Studies ranked all states according to 20
   indicators of economic prosperity (gold) and environmental health
   (green) and found that they rise and fall together. Vermont ranked
3rd
   on the gold scale and first on the green, while Louisiana ranked 50th

   on both.

   Myth 6: Growth is inevitable. There are constitutional limits to the
   ability of any community to put walls around itself. But dozens of
   municipalities have capped their population size or rate of growth by

   legal regulations based on real environmental limits and the real
   costs of growth to the community.

   Myth 7: If you don't like growth, you're a NIMBY (Not In My Backyard)

   or an ANTI (against everything) or a gangplank-puller (right after
you
   get aboard). These accusations are meant more to shut people up than
   to examine their real motives. Says Fodor, "A NIMBY is more likely to

   be someone who cares enough about the future of his or her community
   to get out and protect it."

   Myth 8: Most people don't support environmental protection. Polls and

   surveys have disproved this belief for decades; Fodor cites examples
   from Oregon, Los Angeles, Colorado, and the U.S. as a whole. The
   fraction of respondents who say environmental quality is more
   important than further economic growth almost always tops 70 percent.

   Myth 9: We have to grow or die. This statement is tossed around
   lightly and often, but if you hold it still and look at it, you
wonder
   what it means. Fodor points out, quoting several economic studies,
   that many kinds of growth cost more than the benefits they bring. So
   the more growth, the poorer we get. That kind of growth will kill us.

   Myth 10: Vacant land is just going to waste. Studies from all over
   show that open land pays far more -- often twice as much -- in
   property taxes than it costs in services. Cows don't put their kids
in
   school; trees don't put potholes in the roads. Open land absorbs
   floods, recharges aquifers, cleans the air, harbors wildlife, and
   measurably increases the value of property nearby. We should pay it
   for to be there.

   Myth 11: Beauty is no basis for policy. One of the saddest things
   about municipal meetings is their tendency to trivialize people who
   complain that a proposed development will be ugly. Dollars are not
   necessarily more real or important than beauty. In fact beauty can
   translate directly into dollars. For starters, undeveloped
   surroundings can add $100,000 to the price of a home.

   Myth 12: Environmentalists are just another special interest. A
   developer who will directly profit from a project is a special
   interest. A citizen with no financial stake is fighting for the
public
   interest, the long term, the good of the whole community.

   Maybe one reason these myths are proclaimed so often and loudly is
   that they are so obviously doubtful. The only reason to keep
repeating
   something over and over is to keep others from thinking about it. You

   don't have to keep telling people that the sun rises in the east.

   There are reasons why some of us want others of us to believe the
   myths of urban growth. More on that next time.




--
Greg Brown, Assistant Professor
(gregb@corecom.net)
Alaska Pacific University
(907) 564-8267
Fax: (907) 562-4267