Hasnain says:

Great analysis that brings up a lot of points that have been concerning me about the economic and social situation in California and the US at large.

“What’s happening in California is a microcosm, and slightly extreme case, of what is happening throughout much of America. Local politics are centered around enforcing housing scarcity to the benefit of homeowners. Overregulation and excessive litigation burden economic output. America has systematically undershot long run GDP and employment growth. Public institutions are paralyzed by the myriad of interest groups pulling them different directions. And the results in California are representative of the results in much of America: an economy that sacrifices growth for exclusion, that draws battle lines in a fight over a pie that’s no longer growing. Driven by a scarcity mindset, well-to-do California residents have chosen to erect walls around some of the best places in the world just to ensure that their financial assets and quality of life not be squandered by the presence of outsiders. California’s population is shrinking not because of its economic failure, but because it chooses not to accommodate everyone in its economic successes.”

Posted on 2022-02-22T03:26:11+0000