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Economics

So What If New York Is Unaffordable? That Helps the U.S.

When people flee the most developed cities, they spur development elsewhere and reduce inequality.
Come to Atlanta.
Photographer: KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images
Conor Sen

There's no real national debate when it comes to housing policy.

Journalists and pundits on one side shout: "We need more development and density so cities will be affordable and livable." For good measure they add: "People who don't support more development and density are heartless and just defending their own property values."