On the zero-sum graphic: I don't have access to the original article (paywall), but was surprised that the German Green party was included among the zero-sum group. My impression was that they are very explicitly for green growth projects. For what it's worth, I asked ChatGPT ( https://chatgpt.com/share/69479730-9368-8006-b0ae-4c14be625dfb ) and Claude ( https://claude.ai/share/14a0954d-371f-48c8-877d-8dfe41fd12bf ) to classify German parties along the zero-sum axis, and while they agreed for Die Linke, AfD and BSW, they either put the Greens in neutral/complicated or explicitly positive sum.
> But it doesn’t mean that housing has become more affordable. Rents are down by only a few percent in real terms since July 2017, and interest rates are higher today than they were before Covid-19. Prices and affordability should not be conflated.
On the zero-sum graphic: I don't have access to the original article (paywall), but was surprised that the German Green party was included among the zero-sum group. My impression was that they are very explicitly for green growth projects. For what it's worth, I asked ChatGPT ( https://chatgpt.com/share/69479730-9368-8006-b0ae-4c14be625dfb ) and Claude ( https://claude.ai/share/14a0954d-371f-48c8-877d-8dfe41fd12bf ) to classify German parties along the zero-sum axis, and while they agreed for Die Linke, AfD and BSW, they either put the Greens in neutral/complicated or explicitly positive sum.
I think zero-sum is only 1 of 3 lens (and there are more) to look at this. I think status and freedoms also important lens. https://open.substack.com/pub/benyeoh/p/zero-sum-status-and-freedom-three
> But it doesn’t mean that housing has become more affordable. Rents are down by only a few percent in real terms since July 2017, and interest rates are higher today than they were before Covid-19. Prices and affordability should not be conflated.
Comparing real rents with real income is not a good way to measure affordability, either (after all, a rent is just another price). See explanation here: https://open.substack.com/pub/boydinstitute/p/8-more-housing-ground-truths