I thought this was a good article, despite the fact that I think the title is unfortunate (lots of comments here arguing over what a "developing country" means,

I thought this was a good article, despite the fact that I think the title is unfortunate (lots of comments here arguing over what a "developing country" means, but I think it's fair to just use the definition that is used and discussed in the article, i.e. a country that just has to use existing technologies more efficiently in order to increase economic growth, not necessarily invent something new). The thing that is most interesting to me, and also because I think it's a warning to the US, is the impact of housing costs. GDP per capita at PPP is 39% more in the US than the UK, yet UK housing prices are nearly twice (!) as much as the US on a per-square-foot basis. And I thought US housing prices were nuts! There is a good book, "Who Owns Britain", that points out that just 6000 landowners (mainly the Dukes, Earls and Barons a la Downton Abbey, but also large institutions and the Crown) own over half the land in Britain. That gross concentration of land wealth is basically strangling their economic dynamism. I'm curious, how can people in the UK with "normal" jobs ever afford home ownership? I mean, say I'm a senior software engineer with say 8 years experience - based on UK average salaries and housing prices I don't see how I'd ever afford a flat in a decent sized city if I wasn't already wealthy.