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Main reason is that in many countries there isn't much in the way of stock market so there is no other way to indefinitely keep money but by building big, perma

Main reason is that in many countries there isn't much in the way of stock market so there is no other way to indefinitely keep money but by building big, permanent stone or brick buildings that can survive centuries with minimal maintenance.

gjulianm 5y ago
If that reason were true, you'd see new buildings now being built american style, now that we have wide access to the stock market, but it isn't happening. Even single-family houses are built with bricks.
- rob74 5y ago
  Because people won't buy anything else - and why should they?! I mean (at least in Europe), the cost of the actual building materials is dwarfed by the cost of the plot on which the house is built, the interior fittings and above all the labor costs of building the house. So going cheap on the building materials is simply not worth it...
Aaargh20318 5y ago
We don’t build flimsy houses in the Netherlands, and we invented the stock market.
- 1cvmask 5y ago
  There are economists who argue that it dates to the Romans: Economist Ulrike Malmendier of the University of California at Berkeley argues that a share market existed as far back as ancient Rome, that derives from Etruscan "Argentari". In the Roman Republic, which existed for centuries before the Empire was founded, there were societates publicanorum, organizations of contractors or leaseholders who performed temple-building and other services for the government. One such service was the feeding of geese on the Capitoline Hill as a reward to the birds after their honking warned of a Gallic invasion in 390 B.C. Participants in such organizations had partes or shares, a concept mentioned various times by the statesman and orator Cicero. In one speech, Cicero mentions "shares that had a very high price at the time". Such evidence, in Malmendier's view, suggests the instruments were tradable, with fluctuating values based on an organization's success. The societas declined into obscurity in the time of the emperors, as most of their services were taken over by direct agents of the state. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_exchange https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_exchange
- yourusername 5y ago
  We do however build our houses very poorly. But yes they are sturdy crap houses.
pfisherman 5y ago
>big stone or brick buildings You must not live in a place where earthquakes are common. Stone and brick tends to crack and crumble in earthquakes. For earthquakes you want wooden houses that can flex and sway when the ground underneath starts moving.

gjulianm 5y ago

If that reason were true, you'd see new buildings now being built american style, now that we have wide access to the stock market, but it isn't happening. Even single-family houses are built with bricks.

rob74 5y ago
Because people won't buy anything else - and why should they?! I mean (at least in Europe), the cost of the actual building materials is dwarfed by the cost of the plot on which the house is built, the interior fittings and above all the labor costs of building the house. So going cheap on the building materials is simply not worth it...

Aaargh20318 5y ago

We don’t build flimsy houses in the Netherlands, and we invented the stock market.

1cvmask 5y ago
There are economists who argue that it dates to the Romans: Economist Ulrike Malmendier of the University of California at Berkeley argues that a share market existed as far back as ancient Rome, that derives from Etruscan "Argentari". In the Roman Republic, which existed for centuries before the Empire was founded, there were societates publicanorum, organizations of contractors or leaseholders who performed temple-building and other services for the government. One such service was the feeding of geese on the Capitoline Hill as a reward to the birds after their honking warned of a Gallic invasion in 390 B.C. Participants in such organizations had partes or shares, a concept mentioned various times by the statesman and orator Cicero. In one speech, Cicero mentions "shares that had a very high price at the time". Such evidence, in Malmendier's view, suggests the instruments were tradable, with fluctuating values based on an organization's success. The societas declined into obscurity in the time of the emperors, as most of their services were taken over by direct agents of the state. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_exchange https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_exchange
yourusername 5y ago
We do however build our houses very poorly. But yes they are sturdy crap houses.

pfisherman 5y ago

>big stone or brick buildings You must not live in a place where earthquakes are common. Stone and brick tends to crack and crumble in earthquakes. For earthquakes you want wooden houses that can flex and sway when the ground underneath starts moving.