Can housing policy overcome lousy folk economic thinking?

The Science of Politics · Aug 19, 2026 · 1h 2m

Housing advocates have won state policy changes and a new federal law. But can they overcome publics that still blame landlords and developers for rising prices. Christopher Elmendorf finds that housing opinions aren’t just a problem of people wanting fewer renters in their backyard. Instead, the public fundamentally misunderstands supply and demand: they don’t believe that more supply would lower prices and instead favor crackdowns on the suppliers.