How 3D Printing has been Enhancing the Housing Industry

Take away the property bubbles for a moment. 

The use of 3D technology has been spreading. Today, with 3D Printer technology, housing will not only become more affordable, they can be built fast and according to one’s taste or 'custom fitted' housing.

In China a Chinese company has introduced mass housing via 3D printer technology. The said company “3D printed” 10 houses in 24 hours using recycled construction materials for $4,800 (Php 214,000). The houses were printed offsite and assembled at the site location. 

The Chinese company hasn’t been the first to join the race to build 3D printed houses in 24 hours, a researcher from a US based university has been working on such goals too. I believe there are more but have been undisclosed.

In Amsterdam, the world’s first onsite 3D printed house—which is actually intended as a museum and a research facility—is being built. House materials consist of layers of molten plastic which function like LEGO materials.

Three insights. Technology brings about “deflation”—something which authorities and the mainstream—have been deeply averse to. Yet "deflation", for consumers, means more affordability or more goods or services one can buy with a given currency unit—such signifies as an increase in real purchasing power (What money can buy). 

What the mainstream doesn't tell you is that the "deflation" they all so rabidly dread is credit deflation (bubble bust). So they all promote sustained debasement of the real purchasing power of money via bubble blowing or credit inflation policies  

The second lesson is competition. The quest for profits has not just led to the discovery of new technologies, but has also been impelling companies to innovate or to introduce new or improvised uses (applications) for a specific technology in order to satisfy consumers. 

Lastly the potentials of 3D Printing technology remains vast. 3D printing technology is yet in the early phase of expansion in terms of diffusion of applications to commerce and to households. So for me, this an industry worth monitoring.

[Disclosure: As of this writing, I have no equity holdings in 3D technology stocks]

Japan's Deflation: Evidence of Rising Productivity

Is deflation a menace?

Not if we take it from Japan's recent economic performance.

This from Japan Times, (bold highlights mine)

"The economy grew at its fastest pace in three quarters as an export surge prompted companies to increase capital spending even as the nation endures persistent deflation at home.

"Gross domestic product rose 4.9 percent pace in the first three months of 2010 at an annual rate, less than forecast, a Cabinet Office report showed Thursday. So-called nominal GDP, which is unadjusted for price changes, increased 1.2 percent on a quarterly basis, the most in a decade.

"The Cabinet report shows that more than half of growth came from trade, with consumer spending contributing less than one-fifth to the expansion. Finance Minister Naoto Kan warned within minutes of the release that the economy continues to be in a deflationary state and kept up his pressure on the Bank of Japan to sustain its efforts to halt the slide in consumer prices."

Chart from Trading Economics

Falling consumer prices means MORE purchasing power. Stated differently, if you can buy more goods with the same amount of money how can deflation be bad?

Proof?

Again from the same report,

"The export-fueled rebound also started feeding into wages and the labor market. Earnings rose for the first time in 22 months in March and the ratio of job openings to applicants advanced for a third month."

So rising earnings, wages and more employment seem to be manifesting a productivity driven deflation dynamics or people are producing more than money is being printed by the authorities.

Yet mainstream experts and the media seem to be seeing it differently,

"The reliance on overseas demand may also be a vulnerability as Europe's debt crisis sparks concern about the durability of the global economic recovery.

"The best thing Japan can do is to bring inflation back to their economy," said Huw McKay, a senior international economist at Westpac Banking Corp. in Sydney.

As shown above, media through quoted mainstream analysts prescribe that the Japanese should earn less, pay for higher prices for consumer goods and services, go for debt driven expansion, see a boom-bust cycle and become less productive, which all translates to less prosperity.

As Ludwig von Mises rightly argued,

``Deflationary policy is costly for the treasury and unpopular with the masses. But inflationary policy is a boon for the treasury and very popular with the ignorant. Practically, the danger of deflation is but slight and the danger of inflation tremendous."