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There are always going to be limited quantity goods, and inequity will drive up the price of those goods. Land is a fantastic example of this, and the Bay area

by lev99 8y ago

There are always going to be limited quantity goods, and inequity will drive up the price of those goods. Land is a fantastic example of this, and the Bay area housing problem is made worse by laws and regulations, it is not created by laws and regulations. Harvard only produces a limited quantity of lawyers every year, and those lawyers are paid a premium in large part because of the limited supply. A Harvard education isn't a process that can be infinitely scaled. Income inequality drives up the prices for limited quantity goods.

pdonis 8y ago
> There are always going to be limited quantity goods Some limited quantity goods are unavoidable, yes. The quantity of land in the Bay area is limited. But the quantity of housing in the Bay area does not have to be limited by the quantity of land. If it is, that's a choice people have made to impose scarcity. And decreasing relative wealth inequality won't fix that problem; you have to fix it by taking away people's power to impose scarcity to further their own ends at the expense of other people's. > Harvard only produces a limited quantity of lawyers every year Yes, which is another example of a choice to impose scarcity. See below. > Harvard only produces a limited quantity of lawyers every year But you don't need a Harvard education to become a lawyer. A Harvard educated lawyer might be better able to handle certain legal matters, but most people who need lawyers don't need that level of expertise. In fact, most people these days who need legal documents prepared don't even need lawyers; the free market has created plenty of services that provide such products at a much lower cost. The only reason why many people still need lawyers is artificial scarcity: lawyers write most of our laws, and of course have written laws saying that you have to have a licensed lawyer to prepare various legal documents, even though the lawyer doesn't actually add any value to the process. You can't fix that problem by reducing relative wealth inequality. You have to fix it by taking away people's power to write laws to benefit themselves at the expense of other people.

by lev99 8y ago

pdonis 8y ago

> There are always going to be limited quantity goods Some limited quantity goods are unavoidable, yes. The quantity of land in the Bay area is limited. But the quantity of housing in the Bay area does not have to be limited by the quantity of land. If it is, that's a choice people have made to impose scarcity. And decreasing relative wealth inequality won't fix that problem; you have to fix it by taking away people's power to impose scarcity to further their own ends at the expense of other people's. > Harvard only produces a limited quantity of lawyers every year Yes, which is another example of a choice to impose scarcity. See below. > Harvard only produces a limited quantity of lawyers every year But you don't need a Harvard education to become a lawyer. A Harvard educated lawyer might be better able to handle certain legal matters, but most people who need lawyers don't need that level of expertise. In fact, most people these days who need legal documents prepared don't even need lawyers; the free market has created plenty of services that provide such products at a much lower cost. The only reason why many people still need lawyers is artificial scarcity: lawyers write most of our laws, and of course have written laws saying that you have to have a licensed lawyer to prepare various legal documents, even though the lawyer doesn't actually add any value to the process. You can't fix that problem by reducing relative wealth inequality. You have to fix it by taking away people's power to write laws to benefit themselves at the expense of other people.