In this episode of The Missing Middle, Mike Moffatt and Sabrina Maddeaux dig into the rise of shrinkflation, from grocery store products like cereal and Kraft Dinner to Canada’s shrinking condos, and reveal how companies, developers, and government policies are quietly giving Canadians less for more. From deceptive packaging and behavioral economics tricks to the rise of shoebox condos and poor layouts, we explore how rising costs, investor-driven development, and flawed housing policies are reshaping everyday life. If you’ve ever wondered why your groceries don’t stretch as far or why today’s apartments feel more like closets than homes, this is a conversation you won’t want to miss.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:08 Understanding shrinkflation
02:54 Sabrina’s a KD fangirl - who knew?
05:12 The economics behind shrinkflation
07:22 Price anchoring explained
08:25 The shrinking size of living spaces
11:52 Why are units getting so much smaller?
15:39 What’s driving bad design?
18:02 Generational perspectives on housing preferences
19:22 Constrained optimization explained
21:26 Is the investor condo market dead?
23:30 Policy changes to combat shrinkflation
research/links:
Working paper Mike refers to:
Shrinkflation∗
https://drive.google.com/file/d/15tpbhBziggFL-RvjlVgjqBQcNXzcIrWh/view
Condo size data
https://www.mpac.ca/en/News/PressRelease/spacioushomescompactcondosMPACdatarevealsshiftinghousingtrendsacrossOntario
The condo crash won’t fix our housing problem. In fact, it just might make it worse
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/the-condo-crash-wont-fix-our-housing-problem-in-fact-it-just-might-make-it/article_7c44519f-cdbe-4978-b575-ffc1ef9a76bd.html
Hosts:
Sabrina Maddeaux https://x.com/SabrinaMaddeaux
Mike Moffatt https://twitter.com/MikePMoffatt https://bsky.app/profile/mikepmoffatt.bsky.social
Producer: Meredith Martin
https://twitter.com/meredithmartin
@meredithmartin.bsky.social
Editor: Sean Foreman
@seanegertonforeman
@seanforeman.bsky.social
Coop Student: Djeima Alicia Ramos
This podcast is funded by the Neptis Foundation https://neptis.org/
Brought to you by the Missing Middle Initiative https://www.missingmiddleinitiative.ca/
Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux
Produced by Meredith Martin
This podcast is funded by the Neptis Foundation and brought to you by the Smart Prosperity Institute.
