Derek Thompson
@DKThomp
Sign up for my new newsletter! (Link below) Also: Co-author of Abundance, host of Plain English, and contributing writer at The Atlantic.
Some personal news. Today, I’m leaving The Atlantic after almost 17 years and moving my writing to Substack. It would be convenient, for the purposes of crafting an exciting departure announcement, to have a dramatic exit story: a fight, a grievance, a shouting match with an…
Credit where its due. The Chicago Progressive Caucus has really turned a corner on their housing abundance policy. Three aldermen are sticking their neck out big time to support ordinances that would increase the housing capacity allowed on Broadway. They are doing this over…
Plan to upzone Broadway promises housing, divides Edgewater — very good in-depth story from @JakeSheridan_ @chicagotribune chicagotribune.com/2025/07/20/pla…
For years we moved from north to south. As it got expensive to move (rates, inflation, insurance) we stopped. We’re not selling in NY and not buying in Florida. A young family in Buffalo would buy from boomers who moved to FL. We still need to buy, but they aren’t selling
Really wild how there are two housing markets now. If you live in the northeast or Midwest, prices are rising, everywhere around you. If you live in the south or west, prices are falling, everywhere around you. And if you live in Florida, the bottom’s falling out.
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts." I wish this view were more widely appreciated.
America’s cities are becoming empires of one-bedrooms This chart shows how apartment developers have changed the unit types built in Austin over past 25 years From 2000-2005, >50% units built were 2BRs From 2021-2025, <25% were 2BRs
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This is a great piece and explains so much of why the housing market sucks for young people right now x.com/DKThomp/status…
New newsletter: HOW THE HOUSING MARKET FOR YOUNG PEOPLE BECAME A 'TOTAL DISASTER' In 1991, the median age of first-time homebuyers was 28. Now it’s 38. This is the hardest time for young people (defined, generously, up to 40) to buy their first home in modern history. The…
The #1 issue @runforsomething candidates run on is housing - far & away, above all other issues. This is why we're recruiting more renters to run for office: Young people experience the housing market *totally* differently.
New newsletter: HOW THE HOUSING MARKET FOR YOUNG PEOPLE BECAME A 'TOTAL DISASTER' In 1991, the median age of first-time homebuyers was 28. Now it’s 38. This is the hardest time for young people (defined, generously, up to 40) to buy their first home in modern history. The…
Interesting framing of the housing crisis by @DKThomp as a “nesting doll” of three different timelines - 50 years of exclusionary zoning - 20 years of damage from the Great Recession - 5 years of COVID inflation, then rising interest rates
My sense from a million miles away is that undergraduate education has rapidly become more pre-professional (look at the flows into and out of comp-sci, for example, in the last few years) and much less about "reading books, getting drunk, and going to parties." But college…
I don't think we've ever really nailed what the point of college is supposed to be in the first place, but I think it's interesting that so many inside and outside universities have come to imply that the point of college is to have and witness debates about politics.
Another great discussion with @DKThomp on where we are in the macroeconomy, centered around the question: "If Trump's Economic Ideas Are So Bad, Why Isn't the Economy Worse?"
New pod: If Trump’s Economic Ideas Are So Bad, Why Isn’t the Economy Worse? @jasonfurman joins to offer theories, incl: 1. Just wait—below the BLS/BEA figures, things are deteriorating 2. Or maybe economists are wrong about “business uncertainty” podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pla…