What Happened to the American Boomtown?
- 7 years ago
What Happened to the American Boomtown?
To think about it another way: If these highly productive metros would build enough housing, Mr. Schleicher believes
that would do more to improve the prospects of American workers and buoy the nation’s economy than proposals like lowering corporate taxes contained in the tax bill the Senate passed last week.
In theory, we’d expect those metros, like the Bay Area, Boston
and New York, to be rapidly expanding, as people move from regions with high unemployment and meager wages to those with high salaries and strong job markets.
But while other cities have played this role through history — enabling people who were geographically mobile to become
economically mobile, too — migration patterns like the one that fed Chicago have broken down in today’s America.
But these productive places aren’t growing as fast now as economists believe they should —
and as they would if they didn’t impose so many obstacles on new development.
If these places remain magnets for immigrants, the high cost of housing is now repelling
current residents, in addition to keeping away more potential new ones.
To think about it another way: If these highly productive metros would build enough housing, Mr. Schleicher believes
that would do more to improve the prospects of American workers and buoy the nation’s economy than proposals like lowering corporate taxes contained in the tax bill the Senate passed last week.
In theory, we’d expect those metros, like the Bay Area, Boston
and New York, to be rapidly expanding, as people move from regions with high unemployment and meager wages to those with high salaries and strong job markets.
But while other cities have played this role through history — enabling people who were geographically mobile to become
economically mobile, too — migration patterns like the one that fed Chicago have broken down in today’s America.
But these productive places aren’t growing as fast now as economists believe they should —
and as they would if they didn’t impose so many obstacles on new development.
If these places remain magnets for immigrants, the high cost of housing is now repelling
current residents, in addition to keeping away more potential new ones.