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Shortage of Affordable Housing in Malmö: Implications of Shaikh’s Theory of Real Competition for Housing Research

Farahani, Ilia LU (2025) European Network of Housing Research conference, Grand Paris 2025 p.315-315
Abstract
This paper analyses structural economic forces contributing to the current undersupply of affordable housing in Sweden’s third-largest city, Malmö. It operationalizes Anwar Shaikh’s theory of relative prices to analyze
the political economy of housing shortage. The paper argues that existing policy recommendations at the municipal level are primarily informed by a microeconomic approach to price formation that focuses solely on
supply and demand dynamics. Furthermore, it contends that much of the literature criticizing these policy recommendations fundamentally shares the core assumptions of the microeconomic perspective, treating the
housing shortage merely as a distributional issue. In contrast, this paper asserts that the... (More)
This paper analyses structural economic forces contributing to the current undersupply of affordable housing in Sweden’s third-largest city, Malmö. It operationalizes Anwar Shaikh’s theory of relative prices to analyze
the political economy of housing shortage. The paper argues that existing policy recommendations at the municipal level are primarily informed by a microeconomic approach to price formation that focuses solely on
supply and demand dynamics. Furthermore, it contends that much of the literature criticizing these policy recommendations fundamentally shares the core assumptions of the microeconomic perspective, treating the
housing shortage merely as a distributional issue. In contrast, this paper asserts that the problem is rooted in how housing is produced. Drawing on Shaikh’s theory of relative prices, the paper differentiates between various types of investments and their associated profit formations that determine the final price of housing as a commodity in market economies. These investment types connect macro-level land and construction dynamics to micro-level housing consumption and inequalities. Finally, the paper presents empirical observations and
explores the practical and strategic implications of Shaikh’s theory of relative prices for understanding the current housing shortage and inequality in Malmö, as well as the conflicts of interest between public and private
actors involved in housing production. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to conference
publication status
published
subject
pages
315 - 315
conference name
European Network of Housing Research conference, Grand Paris 2025
conference location
Grand Paris, France
conference dates
2025-06-30 - 2025-07-04
project
From economic structures to local dynamics: low-income communities and the post-pandemic volatility of housing markets
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
5afe85b5-991a-4760-9732-a9c059d15ab5
date added to LUP
2025-10-08 10:18:24
date last changed
2025-10-09 10:58:14
@misc{5afe85b5-991a-4760-9732-a9c059d15ab5,
  abstract     = {{This paper analyses structural economic forces contributing to the current undersupply of affordable housing in Sweden’s third-largest city, Malmö. It operationalizes Anwar Shaikh’s theory of relative prices to analyze<br/>the political economy of housing shortage. The paper argues that existing policy recommendations at the municipal level are primarily informed by a microeconomic approach to price formation that focuses solely on<br/>supply and demand dynamics. Furthermore, it contends that much of the literature criticizing these policy recommendations fundamentally shares the core assumptions of the microeconomic perspective, treating the<br/>housing shortage merely as a distributional issue. In contrast, this paper asserts that the problem is rooted in how housing is produced. Drawing on Shaikh’s theory of relative prices, the paper differentiates between various types of investments and their associated profit formations that determine the final price of housing as a commodity in market economies. These investment types connect macro-level land and construction dynamics to micro-level housing consumption and inequalities. Finally, the paper presents empirical observations and<br/>explores the practical and strategic implications of Shaikh’s theory of relative prices for understanding the current housing shortage and inequality in Malmö, as well as the conflicts of interest between public and private<br/>actors involved in housing production.}},
  author       = {{Farahani, Ilia}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{07}},
  pages        = {{315--315}},
  title        = {{Shortage of Affordable Housing in Malmö: Implications of Shaikh’s Theory of Real Competition for Housing Research}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}