[smallnamespace]

> but sooner or later the right social pressures could cause a mass exodus

Why would that be the case, rather than the social pressures (it sucks to try to live here) reaching a dynamic equilibrium with the economic forces (companies and people are more productive here and will compensate you well for the extra trouble)?

I can only think of two reasons for a sudden 'mass exodus':

1. People to 'suddenly realize' that they are getting a bad deal; but isn't it pretty much public knowledge that housing in the Bay Area sucks, and will continue to suck?

2. Outside factors suddenly slow down tech hiring (recession, tech crisis)

[nugget]

The SFBA runs on a gold rush / lottery model. You can move there as an "ordinary" person and make millions or tens of millions of dollars within a few years, i.e. a winning lottery ticket. It's probably better than a lottery because there's enough of a skills-based component that people convince themselves their odds are higher than a pure lottery would be. As long as that dream remains alive, young talent will swarm like locusts and care relatively little about living standards or quality of life. And to be fair, at least for now, there are a lot of people in SFBA hitting the jackpot - good for them - so when I say dream, it's a dream at least loosely tethered to reality. But if the tide turns and millionaires in their 20s stop being minted, then the whole ecosystem is in for a readjustment.

[bcheung]

Everyone agrees it sucks. The reason they stay is the opportunity.

[madrox]

A good point. I don’t know. I’d love to learn more about how this happens in practice and what the driving forces are.