>the big one in almost all Western cities is zoning:

Or property taxes that are far, far too low which allows the land value to be captured by landlords rather than the community.

>Contrast this NIMBY approach with, for example, Japan's system

Where people get 100 year multigenerational mortgages...

I guess how you frame the property tax policy debate depends upon how much of the national income you believe should be earned through rent and interest entitlements and how much should be earned by doing actual work...

Currently in most western countries there is a drift from one towards the other driven by targeted tax cuts.