Human Capital, Development, and Growth | Lars Peter Hansen, Edward Glaeser, Claudia Goldin and Robert Lucas
16 Nov 2014 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic growth, Gary Becker, growth disasters, growth miracles, history of economic thought, human capital, labour economics, law and economics, property rights Tags: Claudia Goldin, Edward Glaeser, Gary Becker, Robert Lucas
Edward Glaeser on Radio New Zealand on how cities are the healthiest, greenest, and richest (in cultural and economic terms) places to live
10 Oct 2014 Leave a comment
in urban economics Tags: Edward Glaeser
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/remote-player?id=2601280
- Cities haven’t demised as once thought would happen but urban living remains dynamic and important.
- Change in cities has followed technology progress – originally cities built around places of industry and transport hubs, that changed as transport costs changed.
- People assumed the trend would continue with information technology changes but the opposite happened. Led to increased returns to being smart and innovative. Cities make that happen easier due to a greater chance of interaction between people.
- Cities are places of pleasure as well as productivity.
- Government policy shouldn’t be anti urban – most western countries have a suburban twist on public policy that penalises the city in favour of the suburbs.
- Every time we say no to developments that add dwellings we’re saying no to families who would like to live in the city and saying no to a more affordable city.
- The most economically successful cities tend to be strong on education – human capital is the bedrock to success.
- The paradox of development from an environmental perspective is that things that look green are usually pretty brown and things that look brown are usually pretty green. This is primarily because people in dense areas tend to have fewer transport emissions and smaller dwellings use less energy.
- The biggest human advancements have come from interaction between different sectors where ideas can spread
- Tech companies like Google show the importance of face to face interaction rather than just teleworking. After all if any companies could do remote working it’s them.
- Unlike with providing clean water there is no engineering solution to congestion and we can’t build your way out of it. Only way to address it is by pricing it.
- Two great dangers in building cities is NIMBISM and Monumentalism. Need to find a balance between the two to create more liveable cities
HT: transportblog
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
Recent Comments