Builders' study backs building

That a study issued by the Builders Association of Western Nevada would support building should be no surprise.

That the study is similar to one prepared by the same people for the Builders Association of Northern Nevada more than a month ago shouldn't be a surprise either.

That's because the study is conducted by the National Association of Home Builders which, for a fee, will customize a report "to get a project approved, or counter the arguments of no-growth advocates," according to their Web site.

The study was conducted by Elliot Eisenberg, an economist for the national association, using data compiled by the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Eisenberg is also cited in the study about Douglas County which was revealed on Wednesday in Carson City.

A quick Web search shows Eisenberg has made similar reports in other places where residents have tried to slow down the growth in their communities, including Florida, Wisconsin and Tennessee.

The implication is that the builders' growth study is science, when in reality it is advocacy. We would expect an economic study commissioned by slow growth advocates to say growth does not pay for itself, as the study commissioned by Douglas County did in the 1990s.

There is a certain irony that a study about how growth pays for itself is first being promulgated in a community that has a growth control ordinance. And there is little doubt that Carson City has flourished, perhaps despite that control.

For the report model, visit the National Association of Home Builders Web site at

www.nahb.org/generic.aspx?genericContentID=35601