[throwaway-8c93]

In other words - different business environments create different equilibria.

In Chinese/Soviet/1920s America equilibrium, with an insatiable demand for construction work, the profit maximizing behavior is to be done quickly in decent quality, then hop on to another project.

In the modern western equilibrium, where projects are few and far between, the profit maximizing behavior is to extract as much revenue as possible from any single project, employ lawyers, ask for extensions, attempt regulatory capture, create an opaque chain of subcontractors, etc. - as it's not clear whether there will be any new opportunity to do so in the future.

[Ericson2314]

We have a winner!

Zooming out a bit, this is why low growth is self-reinforcing. We need constant heavy demand to drive continual investment and productivity improvements.

[moate]

Yes/no?

I mean I'm pretty sure there is massive demand for affordable housing (especially in Manhattan!) but there's no incentive for developers to shift towards that vs bilking the everyone out of as much as possible for more "high end" construction.

The current system "works" for the people taking in the money, which they can then use to lobby the people giving the contracts to continue the current paradigm.

As with most things related to capitalist enterprises I think the solution is pulling people kicking and screaming from their beds and dragging them to the gallows during a revolution, but that feels unlikely...