Forget the automobile or the iPhone. Cities, according to the economist Ed Glaeser, are our greatest invention. When people move to cities, they exchange ideas, lower transportation and production costs, and create new breakthroughs.
Today, that virtuous cycle has been thwarted by the housing market. We simply aren't building homes in regions that are most productive. The American Dream used to be about moving to opportunity—now it's about moving to where you can afford to live.
Real estate is a massive, inefficient market with huge costs for consumers. The silver lining: New technologies are making housing more accessible, affordable, and attainable. (No, not by building satellite headquarters.)
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