As the American Worker Project analysis shows, real wages have increased over time. Real wages are nominal wages corrected for changes in the price level, and a natural approach to understanding the way in which housing policy affects real wages is through (housing) prices.

But the importance of housing to the economic well-being of the typical American worker extends well beyond its immediate role in household budgets. Housing and housing policy can play important roles in shaping the spatial distribution of economic activity, in driving household formation decisions, and in structuring policymaking in areas from education to immigration.

Unfortunately, decades of disastrous housing policy have produced egregious outcomes that reverberate through the economy. While technocratic solutions certainly exist, tricky political economy challenges remain.

Read the entire report here.