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THE ORIGINS OF EFFICIENCY
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Reading List — 08/15/2026
Home price declines, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, The Boring Company fundraising, and more.
Aug 15
•
Brian Potter
91
1
3
How Will the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act Affect Housing Supply? Part II
This is the second installment of my look under the hood of the recently passed 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, looking at what each provision…
Aug 14
•
Brian Potter
86
8
4
Reading List 08/08/2026
The Endangered Species Act and housing production, why it’s hard for LEGO to use 3D printing, robotic welding and shipbuilding, modular data centers…
Aug 8
•
Brian Potter
104
1
1
What Will the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act Do for Housing Supply?
A few weeks ago the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act became law. This is an enormous housing bill that’s been in the works for roughly a year — I first…
Aug 6
•
Brian Potter
98
7
7
Reading List 08/01/26
Pepper-spray drones, China’s chip Manhattan Project, Commonwealth Fusion’s fundraise, and a proposed Dulles Airport renovation.
Aug 1
•
Brian Potter
88
1
1
July 2026
Why Is Everyone Trying to Build a Solid-State Battery?
A battery technology that’s getting a lot of attention is solid-state batteries, lithium-ion batteries that replace the liquid electrolyte with a solid…
Jul 30
•
Brian Potter
199
10
11
Reading List 07/25/26
China’s EV subsidies, the future of aeroderivative gas turbines, a US-Saudi nuclear deal, defective roadway guardrails, and more.
Jul 25
•
Brian Potter
101
2
2
Can We Lower Construction Costs with Cheaper Labor or Materials?
Last time in our series on the nature of the construction productivity problem, we looked at economies of scale, finding that capturing economies of…
Jul 23
•
Brian Potter
163
27
11
Reading List 07/18/26
A setback for California Forever, a $500 million artillery shell plant not producing any shells, the difficulty of recycling EV batteries, manufacturing…
Jul 18
•
Brian Potter
120
2
2
How Predictable Are Laws?
An enormous amount of ink has been spilled (some of it by me) on the trials and tribulations of complying with the National Environmental Policy Act…
Jul 16
•
Brian Potter
162
21
12
Reading List 07/11/26
Adults living with their parents, Samsung’s profits, Native American data centers, Puerto Rico’s electricity grid, and more.
Jul 11
•
Brian Potter
110
2
2
Reading List 07/04/26
Households without homeowners insurance, crackdowns on AI chip smuggling, Japan’s two electrical frequencies, Meta’s AI compute business, and more.
Jul 4
•
Brian Potter
123
2
3
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