What are the economic factors that enable a house in Manhattan to cost so much more than your house in the burbs? You argue that no rational person should choose to live in the city, but clearly rational people are demanding homes there, to the tune of creating that great a price differential. Why?
Obviously restricted supply and high demand drives the price up. The demand is driven in large part by emotion though, vanity in particular. People that live in Manhattan are quite proud of themselves, and let everyone know they can walk to the shows. An unfortunate side effect of vanity is envy, and it’s envy that drives leftism. At its most basic, leftism is size envy. Seeing so much surrounding wealth all day causes a desire to communalize others property. Out in the country, if a neighbor builds a large new horse barn, it’s mostly out of sight and out of mind. Maximum happiness occurs on average about half way between high and low population density, although the preference varies by age and sex.