It's not about people wanting to live near the coast. Living on the coast with a view commands a significant premium, but as a luxury, not because it's producti

It's not about people wanting to live near the coast. Living on the coast with a view commands a significant premium, but as a luxury, not because it's productive. Land simply isn't the constraining factor for economic growth any more. Not because people do or don't want to live on it, but because we don't need (very much of) it for farming. These days, the economic centres are cities -- coastal or otherwise, although often coastal, but for redundant historical reasons.