Mamdani, Affordability, and Inequality

This article is part of the series, “Left Hook Economics: The Dollars & Sense Policy Forum.”

Following Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the New York City mayoral race, Arthur MacEwan argues that there are two sides of affordability—costs and ability to pay—and they are connected as consequences of the long rise of economic inequality.

“The costs of housing, food, childcare, and transportation are one side of the affordability issue, the side where Mamdani might be able to have a direct impact. Yet, there is another side to affordability, namely people’s limited incomes, and thus their limited ability to pay for things.”