This is our second episode in collaboration with the ‘Where is Urban Politics?’ hybrid seminar series hosted by the University of Groningen in the Netherlands between 2024-2026.
This episode ponders urgent issues on (re)politicizing housing across Europe. The first speaker is Josh Ryan-Collins, who talks about the financialisation of housing, drivers, outcomes and options for reform from a United Kingdom perspective. Following his talk, Dirk Benzemer responds from his research perspective.
Josh ponders on the current housing affordability and wealth inequality crisis. He argues that supply side reforms, which means increasing the amount of housing, will not be sufficient to ameliorate the housing crisis. Beyond this, he sees crucial responses needed in breaking the powerful feedback cycle between depth and wealth driven financial flows and house prices and reducing the potential for rent extraction from home ownership.
Dirk Bezemer begins from the question ‘Roof or real estate?’ to go through counter arguments he has encountered in Dutch political and public debates to which he is connected for many years.
We hope you enjoy the episode.
Additional links:
- Where is Urban Politics Series:
https://sites.google.com/rug.nl/where-is-urban-politics-series/ - UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose:
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose
Connect with the hosts and organizers of the ‘Where is Urban Politics?’ series from the University of Groningen:
Marian Counihan: https://www.rug.nl/staff/m.e.counihan/ and
Christian Lamker: https://rug.nl/staff/c.w.lamker
Josh Ryan-Collins
Josh is an economist with research expertise in macroeconomic and financial policy, the economics of land and housing and sustainable finance. He has a particular interest in the financial system and its role in housing markets and environmental transition. His books include ‘Where Does Money Come From?” (NEF: 2012), “Rethinking the Economics of Land and Housing (Zed: 2017)” and “Why Can’t You Afford a Home” (Polity: 2018).
He has advised the UK government on housing affordability issues and the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) group of central banks on environment-related financial risks. His work has been funded by the European Commission, the UK government, and British, European and US-based philanthropic foundations.Josh is a council member of the Progressive Economy Forum (PEF) think tank. Prior to joining UCL in 2017, he worked for over a decade for the New Economics Foundation (NEF), one of the UK’s leading progressive think tanks. He previously worked in strategic communications in the UK civil service and for a marketing consultancy.
Josh currently teaches a graduate course on the Political Economy of money and banking and between 2019 and 2024 taught IIPP’s “Rethinking Capitalism” module focussed on new economic thinking and its application to policy. He also manages IIPP’s PhD program as Departmental Graduate Tutor.
- Josh Ryan Collins:
https://bsky.app/profile/jryancollins.bsky.social - Josh Ryan Collins:
https://profiles.ucl.ac.uk/64753-josh-ryancollins
Dirk Bezemer
Dirk is a board member of the University’s Centre for Philosophy, Politics, and Economics a board member of the sustainablefinancelab.nl. He writes a regular economics column in De Groene Amsterdammer
He researches and teaches money, debt, banks, asset markets, and their impacts on macroeconomic outcomes – through institutions such as housing markets, stock markets, pension systems, the Eurozone and the global monetary architecture. Beyond his base in the Groningen Faculty of Economics and Business, he works with the Groningen Centre for Philosophy, Politics and Economics and the Sustainable Finance Lab. He is on the editorial board of the European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies.
Dirk Bezemer:
https://www.rug.nl/about-ug/latest-news/press-information/scientists-in-focus/dbezemer