Preliminary Notes on Inequality and Urbanism, Paul Krugman, The Conscience of a Liberal, New York Times, May 27, 2015

Nobel Laureate economist Paul Krugman, now of Oxford University, offers some preliminary thoughts on inequality-driven urbanism and its implications.  While he focuses on the implications for people moving into booming urban areas, it seems the same could be said of neighborhoods and larger areas becoming urban.  His thoughts raise interesting questions about the urbanizing of Reston, Tysons, and other areas in the Metropolitan Washington area. 

Here is how he begins:

Tim Wu has an interesting piece about the phenomenon of vacant storefronts in booming New York neighborhoods, which by coincidence dovetails with a number of conversations I’ve been having here at the Said Business School in Oxford, where several people are interested in the changing economic geography of London and its links to globalization.

The empty-store phenomenon is interesting, and cries out for a bit of modeling, which I won’t do right now. But it’s part of a broader story of big money moving in to desirable neighborhoods, and in the process destroying what makes them desirable. (Emphasis added.)  And this in turn has me thinking, blurrily — this is just a start — about the relationship between inequality and urbanism. Not as a diatribe — I think it’s a fairly complex issue — but just as an interesting thing, especially if you’re in the process of moving into a big city.

Some thoughts . . .

Click here to read the particulars.