I'm baffled by @DKThomp's piece on Dallas housing.
He claims that Dallas builds so many houses that there can't be an oligopoly fostering a lack of housing.
He also claims Dallas doesn't build enough houses because of zoning choices.
Which is it?
He claims that Dallas builds so many houses that there can't be an oligopoly fostering a lack of housing.
He also claims Dallas doesn't build enough houses because of zoning choices.
Which is it?
https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/1950890865041236251
Here's where @DKThomp is wildly inconsistent.
Either there are restrictions on supply in Dallas driving up housing prices, or there aren't. Thompson wants to have it both ways.
Either there are restrictions on supply in Dallas driving up housing prices, or there aren't. Thompson wants to have it both ways.
@DKThomp I'd also note that he mischaracterized the argument, which is about financing and not antitrust. And he didn't address most of the evidence, or the purchase of housing by investors. He also misrepresented at least one of the people he interviewed.
@DKThomp The thesis @musharbash_b has - that @NewsLambert agrees with because it's not controversial - is that small builders can't get capital as easily as big builders. It's possible that has no effect on supply, or a big effect. But @DKThomp just straw mans and ignores the main point.
@DKThomp @musharbash_b @NewsLambert So @DKThomp called up sources and got them to contradict what @musharbash_b didn't say.
"I’m just a journalist. To the extent that I’m good at anything, it’s calling people and writing down what they say."
Notably, he *didn't* call @musharbash_b.
"I’m just a journalist. To the extent that I’m good at anything, it’s calling people and writing down what they say."
Notably, he *didn't* call @musharbash_b.
https://x.com/musharbash_b/status/1950901478735913230?s=46
@DKThomp @musharbash_b @NewsLambert This piece just seems tissue thin in terms of substance. I'd note that @musharbash_b actually did say zoning was a problem, so is financing for small builders. It's Thompson who rejected the idea of anything *but* zoning.
https://x.com/BalanceCrafting/status/1950907476615790723
@DKThomp @musharbash_b @NewsLambert The second argument from @musharbash_b is institutional investors from Wall Street are driving up Dallas housing prices, buying between 34-52% of single family homes in key parts of the DFW metro area, outbidding normal buyers.
@DKThomp didn't even acknowledge this argument.
@DKThomp didn't even acknowledge this argument.
@DKThomp @musharbash_b @NewsLambert One of the things I notice about these guys is they call us 'antitrust people' and try to cabin our arguments to antitrust law, because they don't understand finance. Here @musharbash_b makes a broad argument about Wall Street and housing, and @DKThomp can't even see it.
@DKThomp @musharbash_b @NewsLambert I've also noticed an interesting parallel to Robert Bork. Bork mischaracterized populists by saying we want an atomized world of individual proprietors, so strategically he wouldn't have to argue against a mixed economy of big and small firms. Thompson does exactly that.
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