Sentences of wisdom

by on July 5, 2007 at 10:44 am in Economics | Permalink

Real estate prices, not whining, are the real barometer of overall quality of life.

More here.

5 comments

Micke July 5, 2007 at 11:35 am

That link is broken, at least for me.

Jason Brennan July 5, 2007 at 1:02 pm

I may be wrong, but I think this is the link Tyler is aiming for: http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2007/01/million_dollar.html

Steve Sailer July 5, 2007 at 4:57 pm

Until your children can’t afford to have children (your potential grandchildren) because your neighborhood is so expensive.

The secret of content, conservative voters in America is “Affordable Family Formation.”

Arthur July 6, 2007 at 10:08 am

Real estate prices, not whining, are the real barometer of overall quality of life.

If taken literally, this sentence is obviously wrong: basic economics says that real estate prices rise until the quality of life (including housing costs) is the same everywhere, within any area with no formal or informal barriers to migration.

In addition, it must be said that nominal prices are deceptive, except in a free market; and there are few places on Earth where there is a free market in real estate. I suspect that most Americans live in areas with significant restrictions on building, buying, and renting accommodation. The situation in most of Europe is worse. At least in England and Denmark, it is tragically worse.

Peter Schaeffer July 6, 2007 at 3:48 pm

Real estate prices measure scarcity, not abundance. By that standard, the Japanese have superior housing versus Americans because housing is more expensive over there.

Absurd. Remember consumer surplus?

Any student making such a claim would flunk Econ 101.

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