The social curse of the property boom

Charles Moore provides a welcome dose of reality in his article in today’s Telegraph. There will be victims of the housing recession - but Moore builds a convincing argument. Rising house prices do not create much in the way of meaningful wealth - they are simply a way of transferring wealth from one generation to another.

He writes

“The social benefit of property ownership is that it meets the human need for security and the human aspiration to rise in the world and establish oneself and one’s family. Soaring property prices kill both these things for the majority: they are a social curse.”

The remainder of his article “Why is everyone worried about house prices?” is here

Unit 2 Macro: Cyclical and Structural Economic Issues Facing the UK [23 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Migration and the UK Economy [20 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Positive and Negative Multiplier Effects [20 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: The Importance of Productivity [20 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Measuring Inflation in the UK [20 May 2012]
Q&A: What do we need to know about output gaps? [20 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: The Output Gap [20 May 2012]
Revision notes on unemployment [20 May 2012]
Grexit - Andrew Balls on Greece and the Euro [16 May 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Poverty and Inequality and Market Failure [12 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Revision Notes on Supply-side Policies [10 May 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Revision Blogs on Markets and Intervention [10 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Unemployment Glossary [5 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Economic Cycle Glossary [5 May 2012]
Macro Revision - Key Statistics on the UK Economy [4 May 2012]
Macro Revision: Putting Things in Context [29 Apr 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Britain back in Recession [29 Apr 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: The Euro Zone Crisis (Revision) [22 Apr 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: How the Economic Cycle affects Businesses [6 Apr 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Pain in Spain as Fiscal Austerity Bites [1 Apr 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Revision on Maximum Rents in Housing [1 Apr 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Revision on Capital Investment [30 Mar 2012]
Intergenerational Equity - Fairness and the Slump [28 Mar 2012]
Life in the Slow Lane - UK Growth in 2011 Lags the Euro Area [28 Mar 2012]
George Buckley at the Millfield Economics Society [28 Mar 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: The Tax on Beer [16 Mar 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Inequality - The Rise of Fuel Poverty [15 Mar 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Government launches New Buy Loan Guarantee Scheme [12 Mar 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Policies to Drive Economic Recovery [9 Mar 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Might Oil Prices Bring another Recession? [4 Mar 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: King on the UK Economy [15 Feb 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Money, Debt and the New World Order [22 Jan 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Economics of Fiscal Deficit Reduction [12 Jan 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Factors Driving Business Investment [10 Jan 2012]
2011 in Review - The US Economy [27 Dec 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: The UK Housing Market in 2011 [26 Dec 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: The Rise in Self Employment [17 Dec 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Empty Housing and Economic Efficiency [15 Dec 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Does UK Manufacturing have a Future? [30 Nov 2011]
Behavioural Economics: Herd Behaviour [28 Nov 2011]
Where is the UK Economy? National Output [22 Nov 2011]
AS Macro: The State of British Business [13 Nov 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Video Clips on Unemployment [6 Nov 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Impulses to Change Management Models [5 Nov 2011]
UK Unemployment in October 2011 [12 Oct 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Unit Labour Costs and Inflation [12 Oct 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: UK suffers a weak recovery [12 Oct 2011]
Why Is Macroeconomics Such A Mess? [11 Oct 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Greek Economy at Default’s Door [25 Sep 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: IMF Flags up Risks of Double Dip [20 Sep 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Income and Wealth in the UK [12 Sep 2011]
UK Macro: Risks of a Double Dip Recession [12 Sep 2011]
Starter Video: The Slums of Manilla [11 Sep 2011]
Mixing with the Nobel Economists [4 Sep 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: GDP per person since the credit crunch [19 Aug 2011]
What might happen on August 2nd? [12 Jul 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Dangers of High Inflation [11 Jul 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Reducing Unemployment after a Recession [11 Jul 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: FirstBuy, Affordability and Effective Demand in Property [10 Jul 2011]
AQA ECON4 Context [20 Jun 2011]
Chinese inward investment in the London property market [12 Jun 2011]
Development Econ: Wealth and Inequality in China [10 Jun 2011]
A2 Macro: Consumer Spending [30 May 2011]
AQA Macro: Remember to revise inflation [25 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Deflation [24 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Trend Growth [23 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Economic Recovery [23 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Recession [23 May 2011]
A2 Micro: The Importance of Profit [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Innovation and Economic Policies [18 May 2011]
UK Economy Update: What Mervyn Said [11 May 2011]
Interest Rates Held at 0.5% once again [5 May 2011]
AS Macro: Extended House Price Deflation? [5 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Innovation in Markets [4 May 2011]
AS and A2 Macro Revision: Keynesian Economics [28 Apr 2011]
A2 Micro: EU Aviation - State Aid and State Ownership [28 Apr 2011]
AS Micro: Importance of Elasticity of Supply [23 Apr 2011]
A2 Macro: Back to Roubini - a Year On! [11 Apr 2011]
AS Micro: Prices for New and Second Hand Cars [9 Apr 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Double-Dip Recession [8 Apr 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Under-employment [7 Apr 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Fiscal Austerity [6 Apr 2011]
Focus on Poland [5 Apr 2011]
Tracking the effects of the recession on GDP [5 Apr 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Expansionary Monetary Policy [4 Apr 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Bubble [4 Apr 2011]
Timetric: Unemployment in the US Economy [1 Apr 2011]
The Scale of Remittances [1 Apr 2011]
The New North - Population Shift [23 Mar 2011]
Timetric: Mortgage Lending and Mortgage Rates [14 Mar 2011]
AS Macro Revision: Investment Spending [12 Mar 2011]
Timetric: Part Time Working in the UK [11 Mar 2011]
Timetric: Total Employment in the UK Economy [10 Mar 2011]
Ireland - Mass Unemployment and Shrinking GDP [10 Mar 2011]
Timetric: Income Tax and VAT Revenues [8 Mar 2011]
Timetric: Research and Development in the UK [7 Mar 2011]
A virtuous circle of recovery - Paul Krugman [6 Mar 2011]
Timetric: Regional Unemployment in the UK [4 Mar 2011]
EU Economics: Germany leads Euro Zone revival [25 Feb 2011]
EU Economics - Life at the jagged edge of the Euro Zone [20 Feb 2011]

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