If a freeway is full of cars and you add lots more freeway, won&#x27;t that make more space for cars?<p>The obvious answer is yes, but the obvious answer is often wrong. Adding more freeway can create more demand, meaning no progress is made. [1] [2]<p>Right now the major constraint on having a larger tech industry in SF is the real estate expense; both offices and apartments are through the roof. It&#x27;s so bad that established companies are opening or expanding offices elsewhere, and even many startups are trying other things. They wouldn&#x27;t be doing that if they could keep expanding here, so no, adding lots more housing might do nothing but create more demand.<p>Also, saying &quot;massive construction of new housing&quot; so glibly suggests that there is a lot of empty land just waiting for construction. Take a look at a map of San Francisco: there are buildings almost everywhere, and the people in them are generally pretty happy where they are. Where there are no buildings, we mostly have parks, which people are also quite fond of.<p>Mencken wrote: &quot;For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.&quot; As here, an number of those answers come from applying Econ 101 in a way where one might as well be saying, &quot;Assume a spherical cow...&quot; [3]<p>[1] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.wired.com&#x2F;2014&#x2F;06&#x2F;wuwt-traffic-induced-demand&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.wired.com&#x2F;2014&#x2F;06&#x2F;wuwt-traffic-induced-demand&#x2F;</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Induced_demand" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Induced_demand</a><p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Spherical_cow" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Spherical_cow</a>