Make money doing the work you believe in
Intellectual titans Derek Thompson and Ezra Klein, authors of the YIMBY intellectual bible “Abundance” (which I did largely enjoy) come to the understanding that you could have reached much *much* sooner if you were an avid reader of the The Emergent City.
Derek Thompson commendably acknowledges that even where zoning reforms have passed, housing isn't getting built. Projects don’t stack up financially. Interest rates are rising with post-COVID inflation. Construction costs are soaring. Projects that have been permitted aren’t commencing construction. You are already well and truly sick of hearing this if you read my stuff.
His conclusion: the book "missed a very important ingredient” and that the problem is more of a “Russian nesting doll of problems” of which zoning is not the inner most doll.
Would love to hear this more widely acknowledged amongst macro economists like Bryan Caplan and Matthew Yglesias who have played a major role in reducing the issue to regulations and “Econ101”.
