Triumph of the City by Edward L. Glaeser

One of the marvelous aspects of the book is that Glaeser is not constrained to the format of the academic research paper, and consequently gets to show off how much he actually knows about his subject matter.

183-193), which is a very compelling explanation as to why we observe greater population growth in the southern U.S. Indeed, Glaeser leverages this point in his comparison of Houston to New York City in terms of affordability (pp. While many progressives might nod their head in agreement, they might be surprised to hear Glaeser take down of high housing prices in many urban areas as “the handiwork of regulation, not nature” (p. Glaeser spends several chapters on topics such as the “antiurban public policy trifecta” that foments urban sprawl - healthy highway funding budgets, the home mortgage interest deduction, and poor inner-city schools. But perhaps the most interesting and most debatable subjects are in the environmental arena. If you want to know why cities like Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh have depopulated - and why many urban renewal efforts are destined for failure –he covers that, too. If you’ve ever wondered why cities are where they are, he covers that. It’s a provocative read, and Glaeser’s argument will have you nodding your head one way or the other throughout the book.Ĭertainly, the book covers a lot of ground. The tagline and thesis is “ How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier,” with “the city” being the greatest invention. I finally got around to finishing up his New York Times bestseller, Triumph of the City, and it is indeed a triumph. For those of you who are concerned that I don’t blog enough about economist Edward Glaeser, this post is for you.

Triumph of the City by Edward L. Glaeser