3 ms·
As you say, it's easily explainable by capitalism, supply and demand: * People want the nicest house they can buy, there is a shortage of houses in nice neighbo
by ako 11y ago
As you say, it's easily explainable by capitalism, supply and demand:
* People want the nicest house they can buy, there is a shortage of houses in nice neighborhoods
* Women start working, families have more income
* supply is still short, demand has more money
* price of housing goes up, in addition to the fact that families need child-care
* gone is the extra income, cost of housing has increased, no way to turn back. Now everybody needs a double income to afford a nice home.
- trgn 11y agoThis idea made Elizabeth Warren famous. It was quite a profound finding. Well, I should speak for myself, when I first red the synopsis of the Two Income Trap it really felt like a slap on the head. It felt it was counter-intuitive, yet explains so much shiftily looking at own's family spending habits. I also found the book's message darkly subversive sometimes. For example, all things being equal, it is better to spend more of your income on luxuries than on he biggies (housing, transportation, debt). If you do the former, you can easily roll back. If you do the latter, when times get tough, you're hosed. In yo face papaa!
- ako 11y agoNever heard of her, thanks. Sounds interesting. Seems like a basic rule that has impact on more ideas recently discussed on hacker news: in a market where there is a short supply of high demand items, more money will cause more inflation. This will also impact ideas around basic income.