Re:The Rate of Return on Everything, 1870–2015 [pdf]
by AnthonyMouse on Monday May 06, 2019 @12:01PM
(#19840623)
You don't even need public housing for this. The higher rents are the more profitable it is to construct new housing. The issue is currently that we literally prohibit it with zoning rules, then make construction less profitable (and therefore less common) by using property tax as opposed to LVT, then (to a much lesser but still relevant level) make construction more expensive through various regulations and trade licensing rules that increase construction costs.
Make it cheaper and easier to build new housing and you'll see a lot more new housing.
Re:The Rate of Return on Everything, 1870–2015 [pdf]
by DebtDeflation on Monday May 06, 2019 @07:32AM
(#19838418)
Henry George had that figured out over 100 years ago. I highly recommend Progress and Poverty to anyone seriously interested in political economy.
Re:The Rate of Return on Everything, 1870–2015 [pdf]
by sachdevap on Sunday May 05, 2019 @08:10PM
(#19835888)
I'm on your side regarding your implication that the reduced inequality might be helped by public housing. Correlation, however, does not provide validation for a causal implication. Validation should require stronger evidence than correlation.
Some cities and countries (e.g. Vienna, or the Netherlands) provide public housing through gouvernement and/or not for profit organisations (i.e. with 0% returns), to a large part of the population. These places also have some of the lowest inequalities, which seems to validate the parent's message.