I remember the scene vividly. Sitting in a room with several policymakers, as well as others, the topic of limiting the height of residential buildings came up. The person presenting felt no need to justify why building height limits were needed – surely that was agreed – rather the question was how broadly and how strictly they should apply. After they finished, there was time for discussion. I asked what was the precise policy failure or market failure that we were trying to address with this proposed measure. It became evident that there was a widespread belief within the policy…