566. Why Is It So Hard (and Expensive) to Build Anything in America? | Freakonomics Radio

Most industries have become more productive over time. But not construction! We identify the causes - and possible solutions. (Can you say ... “prefab”?)
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Discover the hidden side of everything with host Stephen J. Dubner, co-author of the Freakonomics books. Each week, Dubner speaks with Nobel laureates and provocateurs, intellectuals and entrepreneurs, and various other underachievers to uncover things you always thought you knew (but didn’t) and things you never thought you wanted to know (but do) - from the economics of sleep to the future of education, from markets for marriage to the surprising utility of wolves.
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Freakonomics began as a book, which led to a blog, a documentary film, more books, a pair of pants, and in 2010, a podcast called Freakonomics Radio. Hosted by Stephen J. Dubner, it’s one of the most popular podcasts in the world, with a reputation for storytelling that is both rigorous and entertaining. Its archive of more than 500 episodes is available, for free, on any podcast app, and the show airs weekly on NPR stations. Freakonomics Radio is now the flagship show of the Freakonomics Radio Network, which includes the podcasts No Stupid Questions (est. 2020), People I (Mostly) Admire (2020), and Freakonomics, M.D. (2021).
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[@WeAreShowboat]

How in Gods name does this podcast not have more subs and views?

[@zlov1378]

I mean I didn't even know they put stuff up on youtube

[@StefanManov]

Hey there, thanks for the great podcasts (and books)!
I wanted to let you know about a minor omission in most of your UA-cam "video" descriptions - your "FREAKONOMICS RADIO NETWORK PODCASTS" lists don't include 'The Economics of Everyday Things'; only PIMA episodes have been including the link, while all others, including EET episodes themselves, have not.
Furthermore, the contact e-mails at the bottom are not specialized, including for PIMA. I'm not sure if this is intended.

[@Ryanandboys]

This is an extremely important issue especially someone like myself trying to build a new house. I'm in the dairy farm industry in America for example the average cow is $252% more productive now in 2023 than they were in 1970 It's actually a bit more than that if you go by the more industry standard energy corrected milk but that's getting into the weeds lol If you actually look at all the different industries they've really mostly stagnated since 1970 information technology fracking mining and agriculture are the standouts that really increased marginal productivity.

[@lloovvaallee]

We already build mobile homes in factories and we've been doing it profitably for decades. Why can't we simply design them better?

[@Ryanandboys]

I am from the greater Boston area My sister has been trying to build a house on 13 acres in Carlisle but we're almost 9 years There is a little tiny stream that runs by the right away that flows a little bit in the springtime in the town board calls that a wetland and won't let them build a driveway so they can't even build a single family home on 13 acres lol they've spent two and a half million dollars on the land over $100,000 on the design and now a few hundred thousand on fighting this and $400,000 on having workers manually take off invasive species off the trees manually on 13 acres because it's technically a wetland so they couldn't have any equipment there. Absolutely absurd.