Guest: Brian Callaci

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Housing Is a Market Power Problem (with Sandeep Vaheesan & Brian Callaci)

Housing is still ridiculously expensive, and building more housing is absolutely part of the solution. But supply alone won’t fix a system where landlords have the power to jack up rents with the assistance of algorithms, and developers make more money building for the wealthiest in the market, rather than building homes a typical family can afford. 

In this 2024 conversation, Brian Callaci and Sandeep Vaheesan join Nick and Goldy to explain why America’s housing crisis is about more than a shortage of homes. They dig into landlord power, RealPage and algorithmic rent-setting, tenant protections, rent stabilization, and why relying on private developers alone won’t produce enough housing that working- and middle-class families can actually afford.

They also make the case for a bigger public role in housing—including social housing and other public options that can create affordable homes without requiring every project to maximize private returns.

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Chains of Command: How Franchising Turned Control Without Responsibility Into a Business Model (with Brian Callaci)

When you walk into a McDonald’s, it looks like one company. But legally, the person making your fries probably doesn’t work for McDonald’s at all. Brian Callaci, Chief Economist at the Open Markets Institute and author of Chains of Command, joins Nick and Goldy to explain how franchising became a blueprint for corporate control without responsibility — shifting risk, liability, and labor costs onto franchisees and workers while profits flow upward.

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The Market Alone Can’t Fix the U.S. Housing Crisis (with Brian Callaci & Sandeep Vaheesan)

This week, Nick and Goldy explore why the market alone can’t solve the U.S. housing crisis with Sandeep Vaheesan and Brian Callaci from the Open Markets Institute. The guests discuss their recent article in the Harvard Business Review, which explains how profit-driven private markets fail to address housing affordability, particularly for lower-income individuals. Their discussion underscores the drawbacks of deregulation and the need for strong antitrust enforcement, second-generation rent controls, enhanced tenant protections, and a public option for housing to ensure stability and affordability. Vaheesan and Callaci also stress the significance of understanding the interconnected issues of supply, demand, and the socioeconomic factors driving the crisis, arguing that without proactive governmental intervention the housing market cannot effectively meet the needs of those seeking affordable housing.