| Abstract: | Local housing markets mediate national growth of the housing stock and of household numbers. Unearned capital gains on housing for some homeowners produce corrosive effects resembling those generated by excessive material rewards in certain service industries. Excesses of a political economy driven by fair and unfair materialistic drives camouflage the arrival of a global information society whose terms of power and participation take non-material forms. Housing as shelter and neighborhood starts to replace housing as speculative investment and status symbol. |
