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 loaves at once, and those loaves are consumed during the period of exceptional demand. So if there is a shortage of boots, the bootmakers manufacture more, and they are sold and worn out while the high demand lasts; but a person who thinks of building a house, or an investor who thinks of buying it, wants to be quite sure that the demand for it will continue, especially as it is not an exceptionally lucrative form of property, and offers no great inducement to run heavy risks. And so there must always be a considerable shortage before the builder is willing to build or the investor to invest.

Again, land values are extremely inflexible. At present, for instance, the builder often says: "The cost of construction has gone up, and money is very dear, and it does not pay me to build unless I can get land at a reasonable figure." So he goes to the landlord with: "If you will let me have that land for a hundred pounds an acre less, I would put up a few houses." But the landlord replies "No, why should I?" Nor does he,