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The True Cost of Government Subsidies

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Learn more about Matthew Denhart.
Matthew Denhart

Subsidized housing is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, people like a cheaper house. On the other hand, they tend to balk at the concessions they...

Subsidized housing is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, people like a cheaper house. On the other hand, they tend to balk at the concessions they must make to get the housing. In this page from the forthcoming graphic version of Amity Shlaes's “The Forgotten Man” (HarperCollins), a government official lays out the conditions for free farm houses at a project in Casa Grande, Arizona. The story underlying comes out of Edward Banfield's classic study of the Casa Grande Cooperative, "Government Project." In that book Banfield gets at the themes that concern this page: When authorities smother enterprise, they often smother growth as well. The artist on the project is Paul Rivoche.