The housing shortage and what to do about it

YIMBY — now more than ever

Yesterday I argued that the Fed’s planned interest rate increases are too timid based on their own inflation projections. But Larry Summers is arguing that the Fed’s projections themselves are too optimistic and the inflation rate is likely to be higher than they say.

Housing costs are a key part of that argument.

I’ve been arguing for years that the United States has a serious supply-side problem related to land use and zoning regulations.

These days, though, the quantity of new houses being built is lagging behind the number of permits, largely because builders are having trouble getting sufficient labor and construction materials for acceptable costs. This is to say that on some level, the housing market is feeling the general squeeze as a ton of demand rushes through an economy that’s been hit by a couple of big supply-side shocks.

One interpretation of that supply crunch is that YIMBY/NIMBY issues are less relevant today because of all these non-permitting barriers to house-build…