Regulation Has Made Housing Unaffordable – with economist Bryan Caplan

The hidden force has driven housing prices up.

Bryan Caplan

Bryan Caplan is a Professor of Economics at George Mason University and a New York Times Bestselling author.

Caplan is the author of The Myth of the Rational Voter, named “the best political book of the year” by the New York Times, Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids, The Case Against Education, Open Borders (co-​authored with SMBC’s Zach Weinersmith), Build, Baby, Build (co-​authored with Ady Branzei), Labor Econ Versus the World, How Evil Are Politicians?, Don’t Be a Feminist, Voters As Mad Scientists, You Will Not Stampede Me, and Self-​Help Is Like a Vaccine. He is currently writing Unbeatable: The Brutally Honest Case for Free Markets.

Caplan is the editor and chief writer for Bet On It, the blog hosted by the Salem Center for Policy at the University of Texas. His work has been published in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, TIME, Newsweek, Atlantic, American Economic Review, Economic Journal, Journal of Law and Economics, and Intelligence. Caplan blogged for EconLog from 2005-2022, and he has appeared on ABC, BBC, Fox News, MSNBC, and C-SPAN.

An openly nerdy man who loves role-​playing games and graphic novels, he lives in Oakton, Virginia, with his wife and four kids.

Barbara Galletti
Senior Producer, Lib​er​tar​i​an​ism​.org

Barbara Galletti is the Senior Producer of Lib​er​tar​i​an​ism​.org. Over the past decade, she has worked toward the dissemination of the ideas of liberty and making complex information more accessible. She holds a BA in Law from Universidad de Lima and an MS in Media Science from Boston University.

Why is housing so expensive in the United States?

In this episode of A Conversation with Lib​er​tar​i​an​ism​.org, economist Bryan Caplan breaks down one of the most overlooked drivers of rising costs: government regulation.

Across the US, housing regulations may have doubled prices on average—and in high-​demand cities, the effect is even more extreme.

In this video, we discuss:

  • 00:00 Why Is Housing So Expensive?
  • 00:48 Why Is Housing So Regulated?
  • 02:22 Do People Support These Policies?
  • 03:18 What Was the System Before These Regulations?
  • 04:44 How Much Does Regulation Increase Prices?
  • 06:08 What Are the Biggest Misconceptions About Housing?
  • 07:14 Are There Benefits to Population Density?
  • 09:14 How Does Housing Affect Inequality?
  • 10:08 What Should We Change?

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