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Want to be Green? Forget Mass Transit. Work at Home.
Expanding mass-transit systems is a pillar of green and “new urbanist” thinking, but with few exceptions, the idea of ever-larger numbers of people commuting into an urban core ignores a major shift in...
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New Infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa
This post will be continuously updated as we learn about new projects.On the three main vectors of wealth creation, African countries have lagged other developing nations for several decades....
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The Cities Creating The Most High-Wage Jobs
As the country moves toward full employment, at least as economists define it, the quality of jobs has replaced joblessness as the primary concern. With wages still stagnant, rising an anemic 2.5% in...
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Canada at 150: Perspectives
Canada and the United States have lived together in peace for more than two centuries, since the War of 1812. Yet, it has not always been easy.Elephants provided one of the most graphic descriptions of...
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Canada Turns 150 – Time to Celebrate – But Only in Moderation
Canada is one of the world’s most successful countries on quality of life and income indicators. Among the reasons for its success are its foundation of laws, vast natural resources, access to the...
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Why Socialism Is Back
Even as Venezuela falls deeper into crisis, and the former Soviet bloc nations groan under its legacy, socialism is coming back, and in a big way. Its key supporters are not grizzled pensioners...
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Ten American Experiences: A Fourth of July Meditation
The Fourth of July is a good time to ask the question: what exactly are we celebrating when we celebrate “America?” Is it a set of ideals and principles rooted in the Enlightenment? Is it a...
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Inequality and the 2016 Election Outcome: A Dirty Secret and a Dilemma
The presidential election of 2016 occurred at the crest of a national debate over economic inequality, deeply researched by economists and sociologists since the 1990s, widely perceived to have risen...
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Shrinking America
The Census Bureau released its 2016 county level population estimates earlier this year. This gave us a window into the places that are gaining or losing total population.Here’s a map of all the...
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Can California Survive a Tech Bust?
California’s economic revival has sparked widespread notions, shared by Jerry Brown and observers elsewhere, that its economy — and policy agenda — should be adopted by the rest of the country. And, to...
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Meet Marble
I’ve lived in this neighborhood for so long that I’ve grown used to tech start ups beta testing their schemes on my doorstep. I remember the first time I saw a car drive by with a huge furry pink...
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Is California Anti-Family?
In its race against rapidly aging Europe and East Asia, America’s relatively vibrant nurseries have provided some welcome demographic dynamism. Yet, in recent years, notably since the Great Recession...
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Moving Away from Toronto and Montréal
The latest Statistics Canada data indicates that people are leaving Toronto and Montréal in large numbers since the 2011 census. Even so, both metropolitan areas continued to grow through the 2016...
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Can the Chicago White Sox Help Turn Around the South Side?
As a displaced Detroit Tigers fan who adopted the Chicago White Sox as my team, I often wonder how our city's other team, the Cubs, became an integral institution in the remaking of our city, while the...
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Red State Conundrum
How do you raise incomes when your state’s economic appeal is based on low costs?That’s the basic conundrum facing a number of red states. They rightly talk about their cost climate, touting tax rates...
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Is Anybody Really Listening: Pizza with Perez in Youngstown
Ohio has long been seen as a battleground state, up for grabs in most Presidential elections. The state supported winning candidates of both parties for decades. But as the state shifted back and...
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High-Flying California Charts Its Own Path -- Is A Cliff Ahead?
As its economy bounced back from the Great Recession, California emerged as a progressive role model, with New York Times columnist Paul Krugman arguing that the state’s “success” was proof of the...
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Should Transit Fares Cover Operating Costs?
Maryland has long had a state law requiring transit systems to collect enough fares to cover at least 35 percent of their operating costs. While it is admirable to set a target, this particular target...
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Diners and the Decline of Shared Social Institutions
Grub Street posted another installment in the decline of the New York diner genre.I’ve made the point before that many of these old line institutions are going out of business because their product...
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The ‘Not Good’, Bad & Ugly of Mapping
Today, useful demographic, real estate, and economic information is instantly accessed from your bedroom laptop. A few decades ago you would have to make a trip to city hall and wait for someone to go...
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