Although skilled labour is undoubtedly a boon, and cheap and willing labour helps productivity, alternatives could be better yet.

ECONOMIST: Migration

Although reunification undoubtedly hit the city economically, cheap rents and low living costs in the east led to an influx of artists and other creative types and the emergence of a vibrant subculture.

CNN: Berlin: City overview

This has undoubtedly been fuelled by the availability of cheap alcohol in the shops - the very thing minimum pricing is aimed at.

BBC: Alcohol stance 'may please voters, but not doctors'

Dolly Lenz, a top broker at Douglas Elliman, said that at the luxury end of the market, prices were simultaneously "cheap" and "absolutely undoubtedly at a peak, " whatever the market reports say.

WSJ: Manhattan Apartment Prices Look Low, After Adjusting for Inflation