A Critique of Quasiexperimental and Statistical Controls for Measuring Program Effects: Application to Urban Growth Control

Abstract

Most studies evaluating the effect on housing prices of regulatory programs for controlling urban growth use econometric methods (hedonic price models) without considering the research-design aspects of the task. The article examines the strengths and weaknesses of several quasiexperimental and statistical methods for measuring the effect of growth-control programs, using criteria extracted from theory. The methodological critique is tested empirically by comparing several methods using data from the growth-control community of Davis, California and from three comparison communities. The empirical test demonstrates that different research designs can produce, large differences in the magnitudes of estimated effects, and that adding statistical controls to quasiexperimental controls permits the detection of smaller effects.