Shadi Hamid is a Hewlett Fellow at the Center for Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL). He currently also serves as director of research at the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED). This past year, he was a research fellow at the American Center for Oriental Research in Amman, where he conducted research on the evolving relationship between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Jordanian regime. His articles on Middle East politics and U.S. democracy promotion policy have appeared in The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, The Jerusalem Post, The New Republic, The American Prospect, Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, and other publications. A Marshall Scholar, Hamid is completing his doctoral degree in politics at Oxford University, writing his dissertation on Islamist political behavior in Egypt, Jordan, and Morocco.

Previously, Hamid served as a program specialist on public diplomacy at the State Department and a Legislative Fellow at the Office of Senator Dianne Feinstein. During 2004-5, he was a Fulbright Fellow in Jordan, researching Islamist participation in the democratic process. He writes for the National Security Network's foreign affairs blog Democracy Arsenal and is a security fellow at the Truman National Security Project. He has been a consultant to various organizations on reform-related issues in the Arab world, and has appeared on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, NPR, Voice of America, and the BBC. Hamid received his B.S. and M.A. from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. 

Minxin Pei is a senior associate in the China Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His research focuses on democratization in developing countries, economic reform and governance in China, and U.S.-China relations. He is the author of From Reform to Revolution: The Demise of Communism in China and the Soviet Union (Harvard University Press, 1994) and China’s Trapped Transition: The Limits of Developmental Autocracy (Harvard University Press, 2006). Pei’s research has been published in Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, The National Interest, Modern China, China Quarterly, Journal of Democracy and many edited books. Pei is a frequent commentator on BBC World News, Voice of America, and National Public Radio; his op-eds have appeared in the Financial Times, New York Times, Washington Post, Newsweek International, and International Herald Tribune, and other major newspapers. Pei received his Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University.

Abstract
The federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) and California's Endangered Species Act (CESA) aim to protect species from extinction by restricting property development on the habitats of imperiled species. Proponents of these laws argue that the development restrictions are necessary in order to protect valued species, whereas opponents argue that the burden is too restrictive. The controversy surrounding species protection is especially intense in California, where many species are subject to protection and where developmental pressures are particularly acute.

This paper provides estimates of the impacts on housing supply in California due to protection of animal species provided under the ESA and CESA. Specifically, the paper estimates the effect on housing development in California census tracts that contain protected endangered animals. The main empirical complication in addressing this research question is that census tracts that contain one or more protected species are likely different from census tracts that do not contain such species. Further, these differences could also contribute to differences in housing supply, therefore biasing the estimated effects. We attempt to address this concern using a unique research design and data set. We find that a census tract that has an endangered animal listed by the federal or state government in the 1990s does not have a subsequent reduction in the development of housing units. This suggests that species protection in California does not impede housing supply.