3 ms·

a slumlord could then just hike the rent up by ubi(ish) dollars oh, all my tenants have an "extra" $2,000 a month? they can pay more. housing is inelastic so t

• lmm 6y ago
  Housing is inelastic at the moment, in part because people have to live somewhere where they can get a job.
  • ellis-bell 6y ago
    also because there is a fixed amount of land (like literally the surface of the earth occupies a finite area at least on human time scales) and because building housing stock takes time and because of zoning restrictions and other institutional constraints and because of cultural reasons (e.g. to live near family, bc they prefer living in a certain environment like a big city etc.) and because you (almost literally) can't live without shelter ...
    • lmm 6y ago
      > also because there is a fixed amount of land (like literally the surface of the earth occupies a finite area at least on human time scales) Not really. If the Earth's surface was populated at the same density as, say, Paris, that would be over 3 trillion people. > and because building housing stock takes time Not a whole lot of time actually with modern techniques. See the speed at which some of the Corona hospitals were built. > and because of zoning restrictions and other institutional constraints Which only apply to existing cities. Right now there are houses in the middle of Iowa - or even Detroit - that cost a small fraction of what a house in a city with good job prospects costs. If UBI became a thing, people would be able to move to those places. Not everyone would want to, but some would, and that would be enough to move the prices.