🏗️ In Houston, huge minimum lot sizes blocked more homes. Reform was hard, as homeowners feared change.

The solution? Let the residents that care most choose to opt out.

Most didn’t — so over 34,000 new homes got built. The default became progress.

That shifted when ballots were introduced: renewal projects now need majority support.

The game changed: developers had to convince people their tenures were safe. Since then over 30 ballots have passed, many with enormous ‘yes’ turnouts.

📍 Digital platforms

Before: platforms struggled to allocate scarce services in real time.

After: real‑time auctions and pricing enabled quick matching at massive scale on platforms like Google.

📡 Spectrum licensing

Before: opaque “beauty contests”.

After: well‑designed auctions prompted truthful bids and maximised public value.

🏫 School admissions (US)

Before: chaotic processes that lucky parents could game.

After: matching algorithms made it the best strategy for families to list true preferences, delivering fairer outcomes.

🏥 Kidney exchange

Before: thousands of willing donors couldn’t help their loved ones.

After: exchange cycles matched pairs efficiently, unlocking life‑saving transplants.

Mission‑driven government needs more than ambition:  we must rewrite the rules of the game.

Today for @britishprogress.bsky.social, Pedro and I show how mechanism design (‘ reverse game theory’) can help the Government shape markets, crowd in investment and deliver radical reform.

UK Day One is an inspiring organisation working to drive UK growth and progress. This is a great opportunity for someone enthusiastic to work with the brilliant @jujulemons.bsky.social and @davidlawrenceuk.bsky.social, and make a real difference helping the whole country.

ukdayone.org/headofopps

Encouraging that the new Government milestone is for ‘clean’ power, not solely wind and solar. Could pave the way to improving the approval processes for nuclear power, to add jobs and cheaper energy by capturing some of the coming wave of international investment in datacentres and power for them.

The UK could accelerate the path to net zero and cheaper energy with better nuclear power policy and regulation. An impressive new report from @tonelangengen.bsky.social @jeegarkakkad.bsky.social at al is featured in today’s Guardian. institute.global/insights/cli...

This thoughtful piece sets out the large potential benefits if the UK improves its processes for allowing investments in datacentres and the accompanying power, to capture some of the coming global tidal wave of private investment.

inferencemagazine.substack.com/p/getting-ai...

Here’s the table, and a link to the paper

eprints.lse.ac.uk/33576/1/serc...

The other big driver was rainfall. People like less rain!

After that, the next biggest driver was crime. People will pay more to live away from crime.

Image source: mapper.odileeds.org

Terrain was also a factor. People are willing to pay less for living at height. But they do like slopes. Is that because they like more interesting landscapes?

After job access, the biggest single driver is pollution—in this case PM2.5 (particulates). People dislike pollution. But London is still extremely expensive despite being about the most polluted.

PM2.5 may be a proxy for traffic. But NO2 did not significantly affect prices.

English home prices* are explained by a mixture of access to good jobs and the amenities of each area. London is expensive, but so are the nicest parts of the south coast.

An underrated paper from @henryoverman.bsky.social explores this. 🧵

*adjusted for size and quality

Economists tell us that prices give us useful information. Around Cambridge, Oxford and London, they are screaming at us.

Image from our new interactive map: yimbyalliance.org/2024/09/13/l...