EMPIRICAL RESEARCH IN PROPERTY: VICKI BEEN AS ROLE MODEL

Abstract

From the outset of her career, Vicki Been has written articles with an empirical focus. Her important works discuss, among other topics, exactions, environmental challenges to the location of locally unwanted land uses, and the effects of land uses on nearby property values. In 2014, she co-authored a standout article on the politics of rezoning in New York City. She and her co-authors found that, even in the nation's densest city, homeowners opposed to development usually have the power to thwart densification. Law professors generally have done less than both economists and historians to reveal the functioning of property institutions. Nonetheless, legal analysts have made important contributions. In addition to the works of Vicki Been, the Essay highlights the findings of, among others, Thomas Merrill on public use issues, Krier and Sterk on takings, Ward Farnsworth on bargaining over a nuisance dispute, and Henry Hansmann on the rise of condominium ownership. To be relevant, an empirical project needs a theoretical underpinning. The Essay concludes with a dab of theory. Scott Shapiro, a legal philosopher, stresses the importance of plan-making to individuals, families, business firms, and governments. I assert that predictable property rights are a prerequisite to successful planning. My confidence in attending this conference, for example, depended on stable property rules. The rules that underlie private property played an essential part, but the rules of public and communal property crucially supplemented them.