Except our per capita productivity has gone up, and we are not facing any fundamental shortages.

They're not making any more land in high-demand areas.

High-demand areas aren't (generally) high demand because of intrinsic qualities. They are in demand because of the people and social structures that are already there. It is not inherently the case that there is a fixed amount of high-demand areas, that is just how we are set up politically at this point in time.

That doesn't mean it is impossible to zone for higher densities.

No, GDP per capita has doubled since the 80s. We have more wealth per person then ever in history. The problem is wealth distribution.

I think institutional corruption is a much bigger problem than population size for the US.