The basic premise is that not only do restrictions on housing development make housing more expensive, but it creates an overall drag on the economy as well, be

The basic premise is that not only do restrictions on housing development make housing more expensive, but it creates an overall drag on the economy as well, because people that could be working in high productivity industries choose to work in less productive jobs to avoid a high cost of living. (Productivity in the economic sense of GDP per employee, not anything personal.) For example, a great programmer turns down a job at Facebook because they want to have a family or afford a house. Instead, she takes a job at an insurance company in Columbus, OH. Or someone gets an aerospace degree but doesn't want to live in LA, so they don't work at SpaceX. It's hard to give examples that don't sound like they're demeaning the life choices people make, and the book is much better than my off the cuff ones. Plus he gives data as well as better explanations.