Harvard Thinking Priced out of the American dream
12 snips
Apr 1, 2026 
Amy Tomasso, housing innovator focused on scalable affordability. Jason Furman, macroeconomist and former CEA chair. Ed Glaeser, urban economist who studies cities and land use. They discuss why homebuilding has slowed, how interest rates and deficits shape housing, the role of NIMBYism and zoning, missing-middle housing, new ownership models, and cautious reasons for optimism about solutions.
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Politics Protect Insiders Who Benefit From Price Rises
- Politics favor incumbents because homeowners gain when prices rise, making reform tough.
- Jason Furman explains politicians face contradictory incentives: promise rising prices to owners or falling prices to buyers, but can't do both.
Small Group Stopped A Major Cambridge Project
- Ed Glaeser recounts Harvard's planned Renzo Piano museum blocked by a few neighbors.
- Three residents gathered 75 signatures and stalled a major cultural project, illustrating nimby power.
Zoning Harms Growth Equity And Climate
- Restrictive local land-use rules have wide negative effects beyond affordability.
- Ed Glaeser links regulation to lower productivity, worse carbon outcomes, reduced upward mobility, and greater wealth transfers to older owners.
