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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   29310 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of February 6, 2023

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Since you cited Coase. There's a very obvious path of reasoning that leads to one not being a "nimby", that is being for free markets. If you believe in the power of the market to allocate scarce resources among agents with infinite wants most effectively. Then dense housing will be built where dense housing is in demand because there is no stronger force in the universe than people wanting to make money. Using any form of political leverage to oppose such developments let that be through onerous zoning regulations or whatever is interfering with the free market, and as such creating economic deadweight losses.

That is only part of it. the NIMBY debate is about people who exact an externality without the counterparty being justly compensated. Yes, land is being used sub optimally, then optimization should mean all parties are compensated, which is consistent with a free market approach. You want to build an apparent complex in my nice neighborhood, fine, but you owe me the difference of what my home would otherwise be worth.

I've said it before and I will say it again, there is some serious bullshit afoot if random housing in your city costs more to rent than renting a much superior arrangement in the tallest building in the world in pure luxury.

It's not that surprising. Think of how hard it is to transport goods to the top floors of a skyscraper. Prices are driven by connivence, proximity to jobs etc.

You want to build an apparent complex in my nice neighborhood, fine, but you owe me the difference of what my home would otherwise be worth.

Does the inverse also apply? If you want that apartment complex to remain a parking lot, you owe the owner the difference of what his parking lot would be worth if it were turned into apartments? If you're really so committed to maintaining your neighborhood, you should be willing to put your money where your mouth is and outbid every property developer.

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