The Economist Quotes Professor Elmendorf in Story on Blue Cities' Weaknesses

Professor Christopher Elmendorf spoke to The Economist for a June 19 story about how strongly Democratic cities in the United States are not well positioned to withstand President Donald Trump targeting them over immigration policies.

High cost of living and high taxes are not correlated with excellent services in many of these cities, the piece notes, and includes figures suggesting migration trends from blue to red states.

The article also notes that although high rents commanded in Democratic cities show a strong demand to live there, deeply Democratic places also tend to be the least likely to approve new housing. This partly has to do with power being so spread out, as is the case with Los Angeles.

“L.A. is just incredibly strange, convoluted and decentralised,” Elmendorf told The Economist. “They have a constellation of local interest groups that are super-powerful that don’t want new housing in their areas.”

Christopher S. Elmendorf's teaching and research interests include election law, administrative law, statutory interpretation, constitutional law, and property and natural resources law.