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Where U.S. Manufacturing Is Thriving In 2018
The ‘80s futurist John Naisbitt once called manufacturing a “a declining sport,” and to be sure the share of Americans working in factories has fallen far from the 1950 peak of 30% to roughly 8.5% last...
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Amtrak in Turmoil
The Antiplanner isn’t alone in suggesting that hiring an airline executive to run Amtrak is a bad idea (at least for Amtrak). Last week, a former Amtrak official (who wishes to remain anonymous) sent a...
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The Arab Tradition of Enterprise
In the 1940s, American oil workers in Saudi Arabia stumbled across ruins in the desert. They had found Qaryat al-Fāw, a pre-Islamic city located deep in the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula. When the...
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Trump’s Opposition To Unrestricted Globalism Might Prove a Historical Necessity
Let’s stipulate that Donald Trump is a vulgar, ignorant and often reckless narcissist. Yet he also may well prove a historical necessity, someone who, intentionally or not, has rendered apart a...
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Population Growth Slowing in Largest US Municipalities
The 2017 Census Bureau population estimates shows that population growth in the nation’s largest municipalities (incorporated cities and equivalent) has declined substantially relative to the healthier...
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More on Bifurcating Chicago and Detroit
(Note: this past Sunday I wrote a 20-tweet (!), 657-word (!!) tweetstorm that was largely a response to some things from about a month ago. Yeah, I can hold onto a grudge. Anyway, here I'm offering an...
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The Cities Creating The Most White-Collar Jobs, 2018
Professional and business services have long been identified with the downtowns of cities like New York, Chicago and San Francisco, where lawyers, accountants and architects are thick on the ground....
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French President Takes on Socialized Trains
They say Millennials are rejecting capitalism and are drawn to socialism. It’s hard to imagine why, as nearly all the problems they face are caused by bad government policies, not selfish...
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Fertility and Literacy in India’s States
Higher female literacy is a reliable predictor of lower fertility and improved prosperity.In a previous article, we highlighted a clear connection in sub-Saharan Africa between a country’s total...
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The Fight for Our Future Belongs to the ’Burbs
Look away from President Trump and it’s easier to see how three long-term demographic and geographic trends are reshaping American politics.The demography favors Democrats. A growing share of the...
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Brownout
Jerry Brown’s long political career will likely end in January 2019, when the 80-year-old’s second stint as California governor concludes. In the media’s eyes—and in his own mind—Brown’s gubernatorial...
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6 Forces Disrupting Higher Education
Universities and health care, “eds and meds”, have been in a huge growth cycle over the last few decades. Many communities have been pinning their hopes on anchor institutions like a university or...
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In California, the “Jungle” Is Predictable
One doesn’t expect the unexpected in California elections. A progressive Democrat will become governor; Dianne Feinstein will return to the Senate yet again; and so on. Nuances still matter,...
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Suburb & Exurbs Dominate House Building Over Six Decades
In recent years we have been using the City Sector Model (Figure 6, see City Sector Model Note below) to analyze the extent of urban core, suburban and exurban trends in major metropolitan areas. The...
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The Middle East Could Use Less Warfare and More Capitalism
Jet fighters, smart bombs, terrorism and ethnic cleansing have not exactly improved the Middle East. Yet the perennial world trouble spot is not without resources — an increasingly educated population,...
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Blue-Collar Blues In The Southern California Job Market
Every year over the past decade, in the Forbes’ annual “Best Places for Jobs” survey, we have been fortunate to assess Southern California’s economy and compare it to other large metropolitan areas....
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Vermont Subsidizes Remote Workers to Move to the State
Vermont, like many states, is suffering from demographic challenges. It has the fourth slowest population growth of any state since 2000. It has the lowest share of its population who are children...
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Taking a Ride on Uber Express Pool
Over the past few weeks, ridesharing in the United States has rolled in an important new direction: Uber has expanded “Uber Express Pool” to twelve urbanized areas: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver,...
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Housing Affordability from Vancouver to Sydney to Toronto: Time to Do What...
The front page of The Wall Street Journal cited the difficulty of cities (Note 1) trying to stop the escalation of house prices “Western Cities Try, and Fail, To Slow Chinese Home Buying.” The more...
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The Atavist’s Guide to Navigating the Future
I was streaming “Killing Eve” on BBC America last night when the internet got glitchy. The picture sporadically pixilated and the audio became garbled for a few minutes at a time. Then the streaming...
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