John Myers

John Myers is co-founder of YIMBY Alliance, a grassroots campaign to end the housing crisis with the support of local people.

Articles

Economics

The government is ignoring popular, easy fixes to the housing crisis

Horrified passengers suddenly realize their boat has a leak. They frantically start to paddle it with their hands towards a distant shore. The engine and sail sit ignored and unused. Meanwhile, someone at the stern refuses to raise the anchor. Theresa May’s announcement of new housing policies today has something of that feel. No-one can […]

Ideas

The housing crisis: an act of devastating economic self-harm

In 2015, two talented professors, Enrico Moretti at Berkeley and Chang-Tai Hsieh at Chicago Booth, decided to estimate the effect of shortage of housing on US productivity. They concluded that lack of housing had impaired US GDP by between 9.5 per cent and 13.5 per cent. In a follow-up paper, based on surveying 220 metropolitan […]