Posted on 07/28/2015 1:26:12 PM PDT by george76
Wealth inequality? Blame local government, whose meddling in property rights causes artificial scarcity in housing.
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Matthew Rognlie, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology doctoral student in economics .. makes an interesting insight; housing prices are going up because of artificial scarcity caused by land-use regulation. Put another way, the concentration of wealth is not an issue of the “1 percent” winning while the rest of us lose—it’s an issue of homeowners benefitting from government restrictions on property rights that prevent a free market in homebuilding, restricting supply and driving up prices.
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If Rognlie is correct (and the data suggests he is), then the liberal prescription to address growing wealth inequality misses the mark. Further, it complicates the Left’s attempt to capitalize on Occupy populist outrage. Going after homeowners is a much different electoral and rhetorical proposition (especially if you’re still living in your parent’s basement) than going after the vilified “1 percent.”
Government Is the Problem, Not the Market.
As for affordable housing, liberals see high housing costs as a phenomenon caused by capitalism. Rather than address government-induced artificial scarcity in housing head-on, the Left proposes additional government intervention
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Liberals Are Making Housing More Expensive.
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The problem with central planning is that most people don’t want to live in crowded conditions.
(Excerpt) Read more at thefederalist.com ...
Yeah, I want to live in the Hamptons for free in the summer.
The Socialists want to Nationalize your local Government....
Yes they do.
Matthew Rognlie, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology doctoral student in economics”
...they needed a “doctoral student” to figure this out!?
Interesting read.
I would add that every city and town has nicer more desirable areas, and then the less desirable areas. The more desirable areas will have higher housing costs, all things being equal.
Here in the San Diego area, one of the more prestigious expensive areas is La Jolla. While there are sizable upscale homes there, there are also many homes of modest size and appearance in La Jolla. However, these more modest homes have ginormous price tags when put on the market, just because they are in the 92037 La Jolla zip code.
Just based on supply and demand, it seems that the supply and mix of housing constructed in recent decades has not kept pace with the demand. And the result is higher prices for housing.
Many of us can tell stories of how our parents and grandparents bought a house and got a mortgage which could be paid with just one middle income paycheck, the fathers. The mothers were able to afford to stay home and not work outside the home. Nowadays, those same homes have price tags which require two middle income paychecks to afford.
Then I have the right to a mansion like hillary’s? And in her town? that would be equality.
If Mr. Rognlie wants to eliminate zoning, I say “Fine.” In fact, Mr. Rognlie’s next door neighbor wants to build a men’s sex offender work release/toxic waste recycling center on his property. Mr. Rognlie should not have a problem with that. It will be separated from his property by a rusty four-foot high chain link fence landscaped with weeds, and littered with empty Schlitz Malt Liquor tall boy cans, and a few bottles of Thunderbird thrown in just for the variety.
Some of you folks spoke of your suburbs in extremely large cities being spoiled by cheaper building. That’s not what Rognlie, myself or many others bringing the change are doing. There’s not enough space in your cities for many more efficient, owner-built houses anyway.
We’re helping others to build on their own properties in rural areas in the near future. Any efforts to stop the plans will fail. I’m surrounded by thousands of unbuilt lots and only a few overbuilt houses that won’t sell.
Many of those lots are owned by property owners who would like to build but won’t pay thousands of dollars in impact, planning, building and other fees while being pecked on to go into debt for the local incompetent, government-linked, drug-addled builders’ racket. Most of those property owners are given the impression to begin with, that any building efforts will be denied without consideration.
Other lots are owned by those who get big tax write-offs from their lots for losses in unassociated businesses elsewhere.
Residential real estate in rural areas is radically overvalued, and property taxes, outrageously high as a result of so many established residents using state and local governments to prop up their socialist regime against productivity.
These areas are nowhere near cities like San Diego, Denver, etc. Your houses and apartments in big cities won’t be affected. But yes, residential real estate prices will go down along with the shrinking economy for a very long time. We can’t do anything about that.
But we can do without the socialist meddling against self-reliance and increased productivity through local, state and federal government, and that will happen. Trial projects with property owners building their own properties are already in low profile progress in many locations. Prototype small shops for manufacturing are already in later phases of development. Artificial scarcity through socialist government is about to end.
There’s plenty of earth and plenty of air. There’s more than enough water. Only more freedom and less socialism were needed to make it happen.
I’ve found that I need a larger lot to be able to enjoy my neighbors.
Jonathan Gruber, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology doctoral Professor of economics...
... beginning to see a pattern here?
MIT has jumped the Shark.
Well said! It’s over a hundred yards to the nearest fence and property line here, several hundred yards to each of the others. It’s cheap, semi-arid, high elevation land, and its far from even small towns or services. But there are enough folks from the northeast (for now) to make the county as regulated as any city of the northeast.
I’m building more of the costly goat/yak fence here. But if neighbors start building and moving to their lots nearby, the fence will make for better neighbors, too.
Bump
In fairness he did recommend “reasonable” regulation. What’s ‘reasonable’? That’s a matter of the community’s wishes.
Unfortunately people who don’t want to be bothered by the government don’t participate in public decision-making as much as those who want the government to “do something”.
So, too often, “something” is done, “something” that is more nuisance than help.
Don’t know whether or not you’ve seen this, yet. If not, look past the rhetoric at the machines.
http://opensourceecology.org/gvcs/gvcs-machine-index/
That’s only one of many projects. Even groups of farmers and technologists (welders, mechanics, all) are running some of their own. Stealth is very much part of many of the projects and is being built in (especially for utilities like homebuilt heating not emitting heat and smoke signatures, leaving collectors exposed, etc.).
I’ve done a little work on plans for underground residential living with native building materials in the worst of conditions (see soil cement, reinforcement, testing, etc.), good drains, concealed vents, utilities, and have distributed those, just in case things proceed further before regulatory enforcement is de-funded much more. All on the cheap. Oh, yeah, and even something like a bat cave for concealed and covered parking.
That’s been more of a challenge than the previous work on good living with completely utility-looking sheds in a brutally cold climate. ;-)
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