BBB in the NYT
*Build, Baby, Build* minus illustrations plus snazzy graphs
I pitch Build, Baby, Build in today’s New York Times. No illustrations, but a bunch of cool graphs cooked up by Sara Chodosh of the NYT data analytics team. The original title was “The Panacea Policy,” but now it’s “Yes in My Backyard: The Case For Housing Deregulation.” And for you, dear readers, it’s ungated!
My opening:
I would be the first to argue that if an economist claims to know of a cure-all policy — a reliable way to relieve a long list of social ills in one fell swoop — common sense tells you to stop listening.
So it is awkward for me to declare that I know of something close to a panacea policy: one big reform that would raise living standards, reduce wealth inequality, increase productivity, raise social mobility, help struggling men without college degrees, clean the planet and raise birthrates. It’s a sweeping reform that Democrats and Republicans, progressives and conservatives, could all proudly support.
The panacea policy I have in mind is housing deregulation.
Please share far and wide. And if anyone asks, the book is definitely better! ;-)
Great piece. I hope it gains traction.
"The big barrier to deregulation is not homeowners’ selfishness but denial of Econ 101." For a good example of this, see the reader comments on the NYT site. I had low hopes...and it was worse than I thought it would be.
I didn't read many NYT comments, but those I did read said that the problem is population growth, not regulations. That's false, but they seem to think that a shrinking population would be the panacea policy. Maybe you could write a quick article for Bet On It about the dangers of a population shrinkage?