What if building in itself isn't the answer to increasing affordability and ensuring supply of things that matter? What if incentives are the key?
Things the author says drop rapidly in price:
- computers
- TVs
Things the author says skyrocket in price:
- housing
- schools
- hospitals
The former group includes small-ticket items that are often bought with "cash." These are also items with an inherently low regulatory burden.
The latter group includes big-ticket items bought on credit, or paid for by someone else (health insurer). Often, there's a government backstop involved. And these industries have a very heavy regulatory burden.
What if the key to making necessities like housing and education more affordable was to get the federal government out of the business of guaranteeing loans and backstopping reckless investors?