The objection I’m most interested in right now is the one about induced demand (that’s not the right term but let’s roll with it). Like, let’s say we build many cheap apartments in Manhattan. Then the first bidders for them will be rich people—from all over the world! - who would love to get a Manhattan apartment for a bargain price. The priced-out locals will stay just as priced out, shuffled to the back of the line, because there’s quite many rich people in the world who are willing to outbid them. Maybe if we build very many apartments, and not just in Manhattan but everywhere, the effect will eventually run out; but it’ll take very many indeed.
The obvious fix is to put a thumb on the scale somehow, for example sell these cheap apartments only as primary residences. But then we lose the theoretical beauty of “just build more”, and we really should figure out what mix of “just build more” and “put a thumb on the scale” is the most cost-efficient for achieving what we want. Maybe some thumb on the scale will even give us what we want without building more, since there’s a lot of empty housing and non-primary housing.
The objection I’m most interested in right now is the one about induced demand (that’s not the right term but let’s roll with it). Like, let’s say we build many cheap apartments in Manhattan. Then the first bidders for them will be rich people—from all over the world! - who would love to get a Manhattan apartment for a bargain price. The priced-out locals will stay just as priced out, shuffled to the back of the line, because there’s quite many rich people in the world who are willing to outbid them. Maybe if we build very many apartments, and not just in Manhattan but everywhere, the effect will eventually run out; but it’ll take very many indeed.
The obvious fix is to put a thumb on the scale somehow, for example sell these cheap apartments only as primary residences. But then we lose the theoretical beauty of “just build more”, and we really should figure out what mix of “just build more” and “put a thumb on the scale” is the most cost-efficient for achieving what we want. Maybe some thumb on the scale will even give us what we want without building more, since there’s a lot of empty housing and non-primary housing.