Shocking News: Houston is cheaper than California!

And the sky is blue, the Pope Catholic. The Stupidity Tracker blog recently posted a quick comparison of real estate between Houston and the fair city of Compton, CA. The results should be heartwarming for us in our non-cube homes, another reminder that our unending strife against heat, cockroaches, and crazy grackles does not go unrewarded.

Some have pointed out that the Houston listing cited in the blog isn't that great of an example, as it's out by FM 1960 (which some of us call home, others, B.F.E.). And indeed, a quick look at the homes available around the Montrose area reveals a good number of fetching finds that still put the California home to shame, supposing you're not intimidated or annoyed by some improvement work or living in a condo-like home.

Thus the inner-city versus suburbia debate continues, where living around Montrose gives you +20 trendy points and the suburbs -50. For those who find themselves content in the Land of Sugars or the Land of Pearls ("Pearl-Land" has a classier ring than "Pear-Land", no?) and tired of all the unnecessary hate directed your way, you may have a new set of allies.

In a somewhat recent (December 2006) edition of The Economist, the magazine explored new ways of looking at "Happiness and Economics" (subscription required, but a full-text copy of one of the commentaries can be found here). According to the article, classic economic models used to include the assumption "de gustibus non est disputandem, one does not quarrel over tastes", but recent trends have had many disagreeing.

In general, the economic arbiters of taste recommend “experiences” over commodities, pastimes over knick-knacks, doing over having. [Economist Robert] Frank thinks people should work shorter hours and commute shorter distances, even if that means living in smaller houses with cheaper grills. The appeal of such fripperies palls faster than people expect, they say. David Hume suggested that “the amusements, which are the most durable, have all a mixture of application and attention in them; such as gaming and hunting.”
But as with any argument involving economists, there is more than one side to it. For one thing, many experiences demand a substantial outlay on commodities: horses, hounds and jodhpurs, for example. And as Bryan Caplan, of George Mason University, points out, many trinkets and fripperies themselves provide a stream of experiences.

So don't despair, suburbanites! Take comfort in your comforts, for luminaries of centuries past such as Adam Smith, Jeremy Bentham, and Ben Franklin enjoyed their own fripperies in their day, the article goes on to note. If they were alive today, perhaps they too would choose larger homes, enormous yards for barbecues, comfortable neighborhoods, and good school districts for the kids. Not to mention the glorious and intellectually fulfilling hour-long commutes.

Regardless of where you might stand in the matter, perhaps we can all hold hands and unite by simply looking at what a cool $440k Manhattan home looks like (in Harlem, to be exact). While it's definitely charming, it's also definitely 770 square feet. That's right: one bedroom, one bath, one half-million dollars.

Photo: flickr user pittedchrome