Too much Government inhibits business of rebuilding

Ilya Somin over at Volokh Conspiracy discusses a Wall Street Journal piece about rebuilding after a tornado in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and Joplin, Missouri.

"In this recent Wall Street Journal op ed, historian David Beito and economist Daniel Smith explain how respect for property rights enabled the city of Joplin, MO to recover from a devastating tornado much faster than similarly stricken Tuscaloosa, Alabama, which severely restricted property rights in order to pursue a “top-down” redevelopment plan:

Last April 27, one of the worst tornadoes in American history tore through Tuscaloosa, Ala., killing 52 people and damaging or destroying 2,000 buildings. In six minutes, it put nearly one-tenth of the city’s population into the unemployment line. A month later, Joplin, Mo., suffered an even more devastating blow. In a city with half the population of Tuscaloosa, a tornado killed 161 and damaged or destroyed more than 6,000 buildings…."