Morning Must-Read: Paul Krugman: The Rent Is too Damned High

Paul Krugman: The Rent Is too Damned High: “It’s true that Texas has had faster job growth…

…So have other Sunbelt states with conservative governments…. The answer from the right is, of course, that it’s all about avoiding regulations…. But… there are big problems with this story quite aside from the habit economists pushing this line have of getting their facts wrong…. Wages in the places within the United States attracting the most migrants are typically lower than in the places those migrants come from, suggesting that the places Americans are leaving actually have higher productivity and more job opportunities…. So why are people moving to these relatively low-wage areas? Because living there is cheaper, basically because of housing…. Americans are being pushed out of the Northeast (and, more recently, California) by high housing costs…. Conservative complaints about excess regulation and intrusive government aren’t entirely wrong, but the secret of Sunbelt growth isn’t being nice to corporations and the 1 percent; it’s not getting in the way of middle- and working-class housing supply…. It would be great to see the real key–affordable housing–become a national issue. But I don’t think Democrats are willing to nominate Mayor Bill de Blasio for president just yet.