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The housing crisis in the United States continues to worsen as it takes a devastating toll on the country’s economy. The shortage of affordable homes, skyrocketing rents, and rising homelessness will be topics of discussion during a multidisciplinary brown bag conversation bringing experts from George Mason University’s Department of Economics and the Antonin Scalia Law School to Mason Square, Tuesday, March 4, at noon.
The Schar School of Policy and Government is hosting “Solving the Nation’s Housing Shortage,” a conversation between Professor of Economics Bryan Caplan and Professor of Law Ilya Somin, both of whom have recent books and scholarly articles on the topic.
The brown bag conversation takes place in room 113 at George Mason’s Van Metre Hall in Arlington, Virginia. It is free and open to all but registration is required at this website.
“The housing crisis in the U.S. is complex and deeply rooted,” said Schar School dean Mark J. Rozell. “Policy failures, economic disparities, and investor speculation has led to a severe problem that affects millions of Americans. This conversation between two leading experts will bring much clarity to this important topic.”
“Housing regulation has roughly doubled the price of housing, leading to lower living standards, lower mobility, more inequality, and many other ills,” said Caplan, whose 2024 book, Build, Baby, Build: The Science and Ethics of Housing Regulation makes a case for radical deregulation of development. “How do we know this is true? How much do we have to gain from deregulation? And why hasn’t it already happened?”
Somin, author of Free to Move: Foot Voting, Migration, and Political Freedom, which examines the political power of housing and migration, will join Caplan on stage for the lunchtime discussion.
“Exclusionary zoning is a severe infringement on property rights and also prevents millions of people from bettering their lives by ‘moving to opportunity,’” he said. “That gravely harms property owners, the would-be movers—particularly the poor and minorities, and the U.S. economy.
"We can curb exclusionary zoning through a combination of litigation and political action. Most exclusionary zoning violates the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment, and we can potentially persuade courts to rule that way.”
