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Noah Smith @Noahpinion
, 8 tweets, 3 min read Read on Twitter
Howdy, y'all! Today's BV post is about land, that great generator of wealth inequality. bloomberg.com/view/articles/…
Some people think housing is a bad investment, particularly after the popping of the housing bubble. House prices don't generally keep up with stocks.
And it's true that in recent decades, at least, greater stock ownership has helped the rich pull away from the middle class in terms of wealth... bloomberg.com/view/articles/…
But the return to land doesn't just come from price appreciation! RENT is important! (If you're a homeowner, this is equal to the rent you don't have to pay because you live in your house.)
Here's a new paper showing that over the very long term, housing (i.e. land) has done very very well as an asset. Better than stocks, probably. nber.org/papers/w24112
Now that things like Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) are available to all investors, land should be a part of every diversified investor's portfolio.
And at the national level, we should be concerned about the role land is playing in wealth inequality.

There's a good case to be made that land is the chief culprit in "r>g".
Fortunately, we know how to reduce the inequality created by unequal land ownership. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_valu…

Yes, this ended up being a Georgist rant!

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