This is one reason why I think you have to look at US infrastructure cost disease beyond the context of land use controls, NIMBYism, local government fragmentation, etc. It’s a pervasive problem.

Infrastory@infrastory.bsky.social · 21h ago

If you thought infrastructure procurement had problems, defense procurement is a whole other animal. Read the latest Infrastory now: open.substack.com/pub/infrasto...

I wonder if Elizabethan (in the sense of Elizabeth II) will become a useful shorthand in the sense of Victorian. She ruled for longer but her reign saw if anything too much change to be descriptive of anything distinct.

I think the conspiracy is comforting to people -- "a few bad guys did this." The reality -- "electeds, planners, and most of the public believed that the car was the future and rail transit was outdated" is actually more unsettling since it raises the question of what we're getting wrong now.

no notes, too good www.ft.com/content/5de2...

Me buying Baumol’s goods: Haha fuck yeah!!! Yes!! Me buying Baumol’s services: Well this fucking sucks. What the fuck.

She's talented at making other people's things her thing. Let's go all the way back to early July. The day before Platner dropped out—when her fellow travelers were still trying to shout down his victims by blaming AIPAC—she makes AIPAC the bad guy in her own story *without* accusing them directly.

Having chosen to become an overt political actor, the AAUP apparently decided the best place to start was by trying to prevent a moderate (and higher education advocate) from reaching the general election in a purple state.

Anthony Michael Kreis@anthonymkreis.bsky.social · 6d ago

I don’t like this one bit. The AAUP doesn’t need to endorse candidates at all. www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

REGULATORY FAVORITISM, LLC is now in print @milkeninstitute.org Review, along with some terrific -- and provocative -- illustrations by Robert Neubecker. www.milkenreview.org/articles/reg...

*crack open 157-page white paper by impressive group of smart academics on important topic* *ctrl-F for "transportation," the #1 source of GHGs in the US* *find no substantive discussion* *ctrl-F for "bus," "train," and variations* *find no substantive discussion* *close 157-page white paper*

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute.org · 6d ago

Climate policy isn't going away because Washington stopped talking about it. Americans are already paying the price through fires, floods, heat, and rising costs. Our new collection asks a different question: what should the next agenda for climate look like post-DOGE and the rollback of the IRA? 🧵

I wonder if those who created the policy appreciated that not only would places like NYC and LA receive higher FHFA conforming loan limits than the national figure ($832k), but also vacation-home areas like Vail and Jackson Hole ($1.249M).

Bill McBride@calculatedrisk.bsky.social · 6d ago

How Much will the Fannie & Freddie Conforming Loan Limit Change for 2027? calculatedrisk.substack.com/p/how-much-w...

(at Little Caesar's) This Crazy Bread is not historically accurate

Without looking, by what factor would you expect NYC total metro area unliked transit trips exceed Chicagoland's in a given year? For context, if the number of transit trips were proportional to each metro's population, metro NYC would have a bit more than 2x the trips that Chicagoland does.

This is very interesting. After controlling for selection (i.e., self-sorting of more productive workers into cities), the authors find that between 1940 and 2010, the urban wage premium dropped by one half to two thirds (from 10-15% to under 5%).

#urbanecon@urban-econ-papers.bsky.social · last wk.

New in RSUE: The urban wage premium in historical perspective, by Kyle Butts, Taylor Jaworski, Carl T. Kitchens. #econsky #urbanecon

So much so that the ability to travel actually helps explain the modern grocery store. By definition, this program gives those who can travel a subsidy intended for those who can't. A "locals only" rule could address, if suboptimally. See this great paper by Wei You www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...

The Economics of Speed: The Electrification of the Streetcar System and the Decline of Mom-and-Pop Stores in Boston, 1885–1905

(October 2021) - Small firms dominated the American economy in the nineteenth century, and they still dominate in many developing economies today. This paper tests whether geographic market segmentati...

aeaweb.org

BeijingPalmer@beijingpalmer.bsky.social · last wk.

at a very basic level, 'this grocery is 30 percent cheaper than other groceries' incentives people to *go to that grocery from outside of the neighborhood.* When you're trying to alleviate a food desert you may not actually want people coming in and clearing the shelves early.

Jennifer Roback, Wages, Rents, and the Quality of Life, 90 J. Pol. Econ. 1257 (1982)

Stambovsky v. Ackley, 169 A.D.2d 254 (N.Y. App. Div. 1991) (Smith, J., dissenting)

William B. Fuckley@opinionhaver.bsky.social · last wk.

yeah the place is haunted but the ghost sort of does his own thing, leave him alone, he leaves you alone. honestly if you're a heavy sleeper and the night noises don't bother you it's a great deal, especially considering the location.

Bookman, the greatest over-the-top authority character of all time.

Seinfeldism@seinfeldism.bsky.social · last wk.

Sure, go ahead, laugh if you want to. I've seen your type before: Flashy, making the scene, flaunting convention. / S03E05 The Library

This an interesting theory, but unfortunately containerization is once again the culprit. Globally we see trends where deep water ports gain on mid tier ports and bi lateral trade ends up routed through more select cities

Sean McKnight@ynot1989.bsky.social · last wk.

If the Jones Act was never adopted, urbanization would not have been limited to deep water seaports. River ports would have grown at similar rate after 1920. St. Louis would be one of the biggest cities in the world. West Virginia would have remained a major manufacturing hub.

Not upzoning near this park is the equivalent of running rail in a highway median. Your design choice effectively sets a glass ceiling on community use/benefit. Highway rail is mostly limited to commuting and the mega park to occasional visits. Go big, people.

Greg Shill@gregshill.com · last wk.

There are historical reasons for siting big parks like Wilson Park in Detroit or Grant Park in Chicago along rivers & lakefronts. But doing so without permitting adjacent intensification of housing consigns them to occasional destination use rather than letting them blossom into everyday amenities.

To butcher an aphorism, no one ever went broke underestimating the public's willingness to travel for regular activities. Employment and education are the major exceptions; people will travel daily for these. You can't expect people to commute to a park.

Greg Shill@gregshill.com · last wk.

For a local amenity, being scenic isn't enough to trump proximity. A national park in an isolated place will attract "sufficient" visitors—specifically, many unique visitors—but a city park has a different mandate and should generate a lot of regular, repeat visits. You need people living nearby.

There are historical reasons for siting big parks like Wilson Park in Detroit or Grant Park in Chicago along rivers & lakefronts. But doing so without permitting adjacent intensification of housing consigns them to occasional destination use rather than letting them blossom into everyday amenities.

US Commuting Zones and Labor Market Areas: Evidence from the NBA

European cities this century have made tremendous strides on a variety of urbanism dimensions. Is anyone familiar with evidence of how it’s changed the structure and extent of agglomeration? You could look at land prices but it would be more interesting if you could show changes in productivity.

I suppose the hint was in the name all along, but it’s darkly funny that in ~half a century urban planning has gone from an ideal of a central authority prescribing rigid rules to diffuse processes prescribing rigid rules. The democratic deficit not only remains a problem, but is not the only one.

There should be a word for a merger that’s doable in the current environment but almost certain to be unwound within a few years.

Ann M. Lipton@annmlipton.bsky.social · last wk.

united is the thirstiest airline in america www.wsj.com/business/air...

CNBC TV at the gym showing Oracle 5 year CDS. Hard to see this as a bubble in any conventional sense (the typical bubble is when they just show line go up).

Who wrote this @chicagotribune.com headline, Edgar Allen Poe? 🚃 💀 🦉 But these gripes about the state of @chicagocta.bsky.social from Fred Schein, former general manager of rail operations, are worth considering. Please click & consider subscribing to Trib. www.chicagotribune.com/2026/07/23/l...

Just saw a non-engagement bait post that said you don’t have to spend six figures to get a good car. We live in interesting times.

Good points. 3 quick thoughts, from small to big: 1) Time + money. The implied changes may require a generational investment. 2) Design solutionism. A buddy has an architecture firm and is often engaged post-pandemic on community-building. He has to gingerly explain that design can't fix culture.

Orin Kerr@orinkerr.bsky.social · 2w ago

A lot of law schools wonder how they can create faculty community and encourage faculty gathering in a world where it's so easy to work from home or just work in offices with doors closed. /1

Such a good episode.

Seinfeldism@seinfeldism.bsky.social · 2w ago

Fire!! / S05E20 The Fire