The comment by Wendell Cox (2010) pivots off of two papers, one of which is ours, Huang and Tang (2010). Cox treats a range of issues. Our reply focuses on those most directly related to our work. Specifically, we would like to address the concern that the inclusion of both geographic and regulatory constraints in the regressions could underestimate the effect of regulations on housing prices. We will show that dropping the geographic-constraints variable from the regression has only a marginal effect in increasing the sizes of the coefficients on the regulatory-restrictions variable. Before replying, we would like to provide a short description of the empirical work in Huang and Tang (2010). The paper studies the US housing price cycle between 2001 and 2009 using data from over 300 cities. We divide the price movements into two phases, an initial boom 2000 to 2006 and a bust 2006 thru 2009. We use the price booms and busts at the local level as dependent variables in cross-sectional regressions. The control variables are city profile and contemporaneous changes in economic conditions. The key right-hand-side variables are the regulatory and geographic constraints on housing supply. The measure of regulatory constraint is the Wharton Residential Land Use Regulatory Index (WRLURI) from Gyourko, Saiz and Summers (2008). The measure of geographic land constraint, obtained from Saiz (2010), is the proportion of undevelopable

Without whom I would not have found the motivation, the will, or the sense of humor needed to finish this dissertation. ii Acknowledgements I began my graduate studies in 2006 as the only student in the Wharton Real Estate doctoral program. Any initial misgivings about my unique status were quickly overcome as I met and came to know the faculty and administrators of the Real Estate Department. It is a wonderful group of people who, both collectively and individually, never failed to offer their help or advice whenever I needed it. I would like to take this opportunity to thank a few of them, as well as some others who helped me along the way. First, I am deeply grateful to Todd Sinai, who guided me expertly through the lengthy dissertation process and the job market. He was a constant source of encouragement and good cheer at the moments when I most needed them. His mentorship will always be reflected in my best work as an economist. Despite his many obligations, Joe Gyourko made himself available to me whenever I needed his wisdom. Thanks to his ability to break down complicated issues quickly and