The depressing part about the review-bombing going on is that this book is an argument *against* government interference in the marketplace. Matthew Yglesias is a bonafide liberal who sees a blind spot in public policy around housing density. His argument is that allowing developers to match supply with demand for housing in the most popular urban locations would have positive effects for the economy and the environment, among other things. It would also benefit landowners, which is something that conservatives should be all for.
Yglesias's core point is that high housing costs are not "normal." The market should produce supply to match demand, and people should be able to find housing they can afford everywhere, albeit not necessarily single-family homes with picket fences. High housing costs are caused by regulation of construction through zoning, historical district preservation, height restrictions, parking requirements, etc. Not all regulation is bad: regulation to ensure that housing is safe and properly constructed is fine. Regulation that keeps density down is ultimately bad for everyone.
I think there's a bit of hand-waving going on when he discusses people's worries about density making their neighborhood less attractive. It's not clear that people are making an obviously irrational choice when they lobby for density restrictions. Yes, the regulations lower the economic value of their land, but such regulations do keep the overall "character" of their neighborhood relatively constant. Yglesias thinks these people are making these decisions because they think that increased density will be negative both financially and in quality of life. If more people understood that increases in density would be a boost to the local economy and make their land more valuable, and for many people will actually improve their quality of life via more and better services, he says, people would weigh the tradeoffs differently, and would vote for increased density. Not everywhere all the time, but more places and more often, and this would ultimately be good for the country.
It's a clear, compelling argument, and not too long. Those who call it boring must be bored very easily, or (more likely) haven't read it at all and are just participating in the anti-Yglesias pile-on triggered by some web site or other. Too bad; if they actually read the book, they might find they agree with Yglesias more than they thought.
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