Californication

Thomas Sowell explains that if you declare a lot of empty land off limits, then all the other land becomes more valuable.

There is a lot of talk these days about “connecting the dots” but nobody is connecting the dots between making land artificially scarce and making housing unaffordable — or impossible to build. Prices automatically connect the dots, when transactions take place in a free market. That is because everyone has to bid against everyone else and those who want to use land for the benefit of swamp animals have to bid against those who want to use it for housing people.

If you think that