>And empirically, a home mortgage is perhaps the most successful mass-market forced-savings program in American society today, with much higher participation th

>And empirically, a home mortgage is perhaps the most successful mass-market forced-savings program in American society today, with much higher participation than tax-deferred retirement accounts[2]. You just made an argument for a forced-savings program, not for a home mortgage deduction. Moreover, I think the issue with savings is a service problem, not an impulse control problem. Tax deferred accounts are complicated to figure out for a lot of people and it can be difficult to keep track of for people who don’t do regular, salaried work. I still have 2 or 3 401ks from previous jobs that I haven’t gotten around to rolling over just because coordinating with them and getting the form filled out is a bit of a hassle and it’s an easy thing to procrastinate on. And I have the advantage of actually knowing how this stuff works! If it was as easy as just having a chunk of my salary taken out on a regular basis, and made opt-out rather than opt-in, you'd get a way higher participation rate.