The management of scarcity is one of the important issues in politics, economic policies, and business administration. All three disciplines share a common core: the availability of limited resources. But politics seems to be all about the backhand, given the strict economic reality where resources are finite. It seems that politics operates as if resources were unlimited. Many actions are confused without prioritizing, and more is done with everything, constantly doing more, as if there were no stopping the opportunity cost calculation.
This is a continuing paradox: if it was so simple, why wouldn’t it have been done sooner A paradigmatic area in this regard is housing. Faced with average supply and sky-high prices, many governments have decided to curb demand. Banning apartments, restricting temporary rentals, lowering Airbnb, and limiting temporary tenants are some of the possible measures. This approach produces instant headlines, gives a sense of control, and often conveys the erroneous impression that it guarantees the protection of citizens from outsiders, but it comes with a high political cost.
New sense of urgency for the reskilling revolution
But in economics, nothing comes without a price. Stopping to demand a return to the situation is, practically, silencing economic activity. Reactualizing activity means derailing GDP and taking away wealth. The impact isn’t just direct. It’s systematic. For example, foreigners who live in short-term rental apartments actually take advantage of something that people have undervalued until now: they export and bring in income, occupy university places, keep local services functioning, and contribute to the economy’s dynamism.
Cutting this flow hurts not only the real estate market, but also the ecosystem for academia, for local businesses, and for attracting talent. The big problem with these policies is that they don’t resolve the underlying issue. In a context where tourist apartments have already been banned in an attempt to curb short-term rentals, the housing shortage persists. The elephant in the room is still there. Prices aren’t falling much, there isn’t enough demand, and local wages remain lower and can’t cope with the gradually rising global cost of living.
Building a more inclusive future of work
Added to this are demand-side measures, which have diminishing returns: each new regulation has less impact and more distortions. Thus, blocking unsuitable tourist apartments can help reduce conflicts between neighbors, but it can hinder the arrival of foreign professionals and students to cities with a vocation as international hubs, for more rather than less aid. The solution is there, and we know it: supply-side policies. These, instead of better distributing scarcity, increase the system’s capacity. They are Creating wealth, increasing social well-being, and paving the way for a more successful future.
Applying these principles to housing leads to building more apartments, overhauling renovations, rezoning land, encouraging investment in affordable rentals, and fostering public-private collaboration. Gradually, this approach also provides us with improved infrastructure, more trains, and safer, more consistent, and seamlessly managed services. Similarly, in the energy sector, it involves investing in clean energy, the smart grid, and technological sovereignty. In generative AI, it means developing talent, investing in research centers, and building digital ecosystems that transform research into innovation and increase real GDP per capita.
Remote working is here to stay but requires adaptation
China notably demonstrates this strategy through the Made in China 2025 plan, which outlines ambitious goals to dominate the production of automobiles, batteries, electronics, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence. To achieve this, it created dozens of local brands, subsidized R&D, protected domestic markets, established technology transfer, and signed alliances with universities. Tesla even broke the traditional rule that requires a local partner by gaining the freedom to set up on their own. What happened Tesla is no longer the number one car seller in China.
A casual courtroom, the same today’s BYD a local company with better technology and large production capacity. This scheme, with all its complexities, clearly demonstrates that unmet success has not impeded demand; rather, demand has expanded and been reshaped. The Chinese dream of a prosperous society has been forged not through prohibitive measures but through productive endeavors. And with AI and robotics available to everyone, a dream also becomes a global opportunity.
Conclusion
But we will only make it a reality by becoming capable of increasing our production of goods and services, both public and private. Building is truly the hardest part of distributing it. But there is no other way to achieve a better future. They require length. Public housing, infrastructure, and the training of AI experts have not. The AI Action Summit, which took place in Paris on February 10 and 11, 2025, attracted leading politicians, technology experts, and innovation experts to discuss the future of artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact on society.
In this setting, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, addressed the forum with a speech in which she outlined Europe’s strategy to position itself as a global leader in AI, understanding that cooperation, innovation, and secure regulation are key From the technological and economic perspective of AI, this event raises a fundamental question for those of us involved in public policy evaluation how will Artificial Intelligence impact evaluation and decision-making processes in the public sector In this blog we have explored the link between AI and public policy evaluation.
