Beyond Market Dystopia: 2 Events Special Price

The essay proceeds as follows: I begin with a short summary of the argument advanced by neoclassical economists that assert that the root of the affordability crisis is excessive regulatory interference on the part of governments. This is followed by a section presenting an alternative approach that draws heavily on Marx’s own work on the circuit of capital to explain the factors underlying the long-term inflation of building costs and housing prices. I briefly discuss the impacts of the long-term decline in interest rates and ‘financialization’ on housing prices in major capitalist cities. I conclude with a section that outlines how socialists can envision the transformation of the provisioning of housing during the transitional phase of creating a postcapitalist, socialist economy.