I think he's trying to say that while superficially a house may appear much the same as in the 80's, anyone who has hands on building experience would immediately recognize the difference in materials and construction techniques.
> anyone who has hands on building experience would immediately recognize the difference in materials and construction techniques
The point is that the differences are largely incremental. Same stick built frames, same flimsy building wrap, same poorly installed fiberglass batts.
None of that compares to the quantum leap that was indoor plumbing, in home telecommunications, automatic kitchen and laundry machines.
But it's also that such massive change happened prior to the 80s that afterwards we have focused more on optimizing than new categories in our houses. And optimizing isn't bad, it's just a different type of advancement.
Because the world runs out of quantum leaps at times.
In theory we can 3d print houses now, but those are not more useful than a stick built house. They are very easy to change and repair which a feature most people like. The building wraps these days have rather insane R values and do a good job insulating the house. And most houses have some kind of blow in for insulation.
> The building wraps these days have rather insane R values and do a good job insulating the house
Building wraps have almost no R-Value. The basic function of building wraps is to keep water out, which is why they are called WRBs (Weather Resisting Barriers). Some higher end ones also block air infiltration, but those aren't used very much.
For example, staple up house wrap doesn't block air the way it's typically installed, whereas fully adhered wraps do a much better job of that.
Some sheathing systems (not house wrap) like Zip-R have insulation value, but not "insane" by any means. The maximum R-Value Zip-R gets you is 12 (at a big price premium compared to alternatives), and the code minimum for 2x4 walls is 13.
In many climate zones that experience both extremes of heat and cold, it makes a lot of sense for homeowners to exceed code minimums for insulation, although it makes less financial sense for production builders who are trying to minimize their build costs.
Obviously he was referring to the existence of conveniences of the homes (dishwashers, laundry machines), not how they were built or the finishings. There have been very few big changes in how homes are built since that time.
A little more insulation, and they've gotten even bigger, but they are otherwise pretty static.
I did change it. Some things were incremental (bomber air sealing and insulation) and some were quantum leapy (house wide heat recovery ventilation with smoke and particulate filtering, which was necessitated by the incremental advances).
The other quantum leaps are multiple electrical appliances participating in demand response programs that are helping to balance the electric grid from the demand side.
What I wish I could do (constrained by space, finances, or technology)
It’s clear to me krugman never held a hammer in his life bc that is just laughable statement