“One might think that socialism and deregulation do not go together, but Mamdani’s campaign gave hints that he might be willing to take on some heretofore untouchable interest groups.”
As an economist and city planner inclined to let markets have free rein, I didn’t view democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani as my ideal mayoral candidate. However, now that he has won, I would prefer that his upcoming mayoralty improve the city, rather than accelerate its decline. In a new report for the Manhattan Institute, I have outlined some good actions his administration could take to mitigate the city’s housing supply crisis and jump-start its stagnating economy, without repudiating his principles.
The potential actions Mamdani might support fall into three categories: deregulatory interventions, zoning changes to take advantage of the City Charter changes approved by voters last November concurrently with Mamdani’s election, and pragmatic policy changes to mitigate the adverse consequences of past left-leaning policies. One might think that socialism and deregulation do not go together, but Mamdani’s campaign gave hints that he might be willing to take on some heretofore untouchable interest groups.
Continue reading the entire piece here at CityLimits
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Eric Kober is an adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute. He retired in 2017 as director of housing, economic and infrastructure planning at the New York City Department of City Planning. Follow him on Twitter here. This piece is based on a recent report.
Photo by Jason Alpert-Wisnia / Hans Lucas / AFP via Getty Images