11–20 of 497 posts
Any way for me to access the article from EU without subscription or account?
Why are paywall articles even allowed on HN? All they do is encourage people to comment without reading the article and talk based on headlines alone.
This is in the FAQ at https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html and there's more explanation here:
https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so...
> From Sydney to Sydenham, fiddly regulations protect an elite of existing homeowners and prevent developers from building the skyscrapers and flats that the modern economy demands. The resulting high rents and house prices make it hard for workers to move to where the most productive jobs are, and have slowed growth. Following this logic from the ancient Greek times, by now we would have thousand stories skyscrapers…
I think the biggest economic policy failure of the West is the hyper-concentration of high-paying jobs and enormous wealth in a few cities. What percentage of wealth do New York, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and London represent?
The truth is as long as the wealth is hyperconcentrated in these cities, you can densify all you want, but you are still going to have massive inequality as to who can afford housing and, because of politics, massive advantages of people already there versus newcomers.
In this age of jet aircraft, high speed rail, and high speed internet, it is a shame that we still cannot spread out the economic opportunities over larger areas.
I agreee that speculation on property solely as an asset is an issue, but don't really agree with the premise early in the article around the growth of cities. The argument strikes me as something like this: * An increase in the size of urban areas would increase GDP by 4% * Anything which blocks this growth is bad * Home ownership blocks this increase * Therefore, home ownership is bad The implicit premise is that a…
What's this obsession with increasing housing density? Population in the developing world is leveling off. Most of the developed world is already at "peak child".[1] Housing shortages come from migration to cities, not more people. [1] https://ourworldindata.org/peak-child
It also forces many people into long commutes. This makes them less happy, cause large amounts of pollution, and creates huge traffic jams. By increasing density, biking to work becomes easier. Similarly, public transport becomes a lot more effective.
In general it leads to much more efficient cities.
I agreee that speculation on property solely as an asset is an issue, but don't really agree with the premise early in the article around the growth of cities. The argument strikes me as something like this: * An increase in the size of urban areas would increase GDP by 4% * Anything which blocks this growth is bad * Home ownership blocks this increase * Therefore, home ownership is bad The implicit premise is that a…
Speculation helps create a liquid market and stabilize prices.
The title is clickbait, I presume. I can't read the full article either, but in the introduction it already says that the problem is that not enough houses have been built. And in my opinion, that plus regulation failure are at the root of the problem. Who actually owns the houses is of lesser importance.
> At the root of that failure is a lack of building, especially near the thriving cities in which jobs are plentiful. I think the biggest economic policy failure of the West is the hyper-concentration of high-paying jobs and enormous wealth in a few cities. What percentage of wealth do New York, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and London represent? The truth is as long as the wealth is hyperconcentrated in these…
What's this obsession with increasing housing density? Population in the developing world is leveling off. Most of the developed world is already at "peak child".[1] Housing shortages come from migration to cities, not more people. [1] https://ourworldindata.org/peak-child