Well, if public radio's "Marketplace" can be considered news. But, hey, it's a good day when you hear about your dissertation topic in the news.

Of course, the story begins by re-scaring us about the housing slump:

Officials at cities all over the country will be paying close attention. They're being squeezed as falling property values crimp tax revenues. Lack of income has stalled infrastructure projects and in some cases, it's killed entire communities before they're even built.

EVERYBODY PANIC! The issue of impact fees crops up later in the story:

Sugar Grove was counting on fees from those new homes to pay for a new police station and village hall. Those projects are now postponed indefinitely.

The purpose of impact fees is to make new development shoulder the burden of building new police stations and village halls, new schools and roads, etc., rather than spreading the cost across the entire community via property taxes. Of course, a new school in the north side of town won't be used by residents of the east, south, or west sides of town, so they object to their property taxes going up. Hence, impact fees. But then, the public choice aspects come out:

But like other cities around the country, Sugar Grove's wounds may be self-inflicted...Sugar Grove sabotaged itself by setting impact fees too high. Developers...pass the costs on to homebuyers...At about $32,000 a house, the village's impact fees are three times the national average. That scared buyers away.

Indeed. For background, you can read the published chapter of my dissertation.