In this AIER article today, economics professor Art Carden reviews Build Baby, Build, the latest book by GMU professor Bryan Caplan. Carden thinks that Caplan is right in his argument that the benefits that would come from deregulating the housing market would be huge and ought to be embraced by people on both sides of the ideological divide in America.
Here’s a key paragraph:
Caplan answers all the usual objections, and in ways I would hope activists might find convincing. “What about the poor?” Is a pretty standard objection to any proposal to price something that isn’t currently priced, like driving. Economists’ proposals to price road access sometimes run into the objection that this would just create “Lexus lanes” for rich commuters, but as Caplan explains, his “package is BETTER for the poor. They might pay a little more to drive, but they’ll pay a lot less to LIVE.” Cheaper housing, better transit, walkability, and lower prices generally would more than offset the extra people would have to pay to drive. Moreover, the price in this case just makes the cost explicit. People are already paying — they’re just paying by sitting in traffic and burning gas.
This would be a terrific high school or college debate topic. Caplan, I know, is an indomitable debater himself, and if people on our campuses would like to put on an enlightening event for students, I would recommend a debate over housing policy between Caplan and anyone who’d argue that the highly restrictive status quo is the best we can do.