FINANCIAL TIMES: Outrage at Grenfell Tower is a chance to fix housing policy

Description

There is an old joke about two free market economists walking along the street when one spots a £20 note on the floor. “Hey, I’m going to pick that up,” he tells his companion. “Don’t be stupid,” the other says. “If it were really there, someone would already have taken it.”

The moral of the joke can be read in reverse: if the market were really going to fix something, it would have done it already. This is the story of the UK housing market.