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2 posts found
May 10, 2023
acx
56 min 7,836 words 468 comments 73 likes podcast (45 min)
Scott Alexander responds to criticism of his post on housing density and prices, refining but largely maintaining his argument that increased density can raise local prices. Longer summary
Scott Alexander responds to comments on his previous post about housing density and prices. He addresses several key points, including whether density causes desirability, the role of jobs and amenities in city desirability, Chinese ghost cities, comparisons to Tokyo, accusations of misunderstanding economics, and opinions from notable experts. Scott refines some of his views but maintains his core argument that increasing density within a city can increase housing prices by making the city more desirable, while acknowledging this effect may be limited or outweighed by other factors in many cases. Shorter summary
May 01, 2023
acx
11 min 1,477 words 746 comments 161 likes podcast (10 min)
Scott Alexander argues that increasing housing density in a city may actually increase local prices due to induced demand, while lowering prices nationally. Longer summary
Scott Alexander challenges Matt Yglesias's claim that building more houses lowers local house prices. He argues that while this may be true on a marginal level, looking at the extremes shows a different picture. The densest US cities (New York, San Francisco) are also the most expensive, while the least dense areas have the lowest prices. Scott proposes that increasing density in a city like Oakland would likely increase its prices due to induced demand, as it becomes more attractive to people seeking big city amenities. He suggests that building more houses would lower prices nationwide, but not necessarily in the specific city where construction occurs, creating a coordination problem for housing policy. Shorter summary