Tyler Cowen of Marginal Revolution is in Japan, and is fascinated by the number of vending machines. He takes a minute to ponder on the economics of vending machines in Tokyo.First we must look to the shortage of storage space in homes. I suspect few Japanese want to buy big piles of stuff … [Read more...]
Does Urban Farming Make Sense?
Matthew Yglesias just posted a thought referring to a recent NY Magazine article about skyfarming:Should we build agricultural skyscrapers in-or-near our major cities? It's certainly a cool idea. I think I'm going to put the notion that this is actually environmentally sound and feasible in my … [Read more...]
Krugman: Stranded in Suburbia
Paul Krugman wrote an op-ed this morning how the US living and transportation patterns will not cope with high oil prices as well as European cities: Changing the geography of American metropolitan areas will be hard. For one thing, houses last a lot longer than cars. Long after today’s S.U.V.’s … [Read more...]
The Great Depression and America’s Addiction to Government Roads and Oil
One of my favorite new blogs, Rationalitate brought up a topic that I have spent much time thinking about, The Great Depression and Public Roads: In a time before the widespread adoption of income and sales taxes, property taxes made up the lion's share of local government revenues: two-thirds of … [Read more...]
NY Gov. Patterson’s Rent-Stabilized Apartment in Harlem
NY Sun: Paterson Pays A Stabilized Rate of Rent The governor of New York pays about $1,250 a month for a two-bedroom, rent-stabilized apartment in central Harlem, even while owning a home upstate in Guilderland and having unfettered access to the 40-room Governor's Mansion in Albany.Governor … [Read more...]
University of Chicago Creates Milton Friedman Institute
Crain's Chicago Business: U of C honors Friedman with $200M centerEventually, the Friedman Institute will be housed in buildings now occupied by the Chicago Theological Seminary on 58th Street between Woodlawn and University avenues. The U of C is buying the buildings and has agreed to build a … [Read more...]
A Recipe to Destroy Affordability in Any City.
Austin Contrarian discusses an article that describes how Seattle has become less affordable in recent years. He prescribes a recipe for Austin to become what he calls a "Superstar City" such as New York, Boston, San Francisco, or Seattle. By "Superstar City", I assume he means an ultra-hip place … [Read more...]
How McCain or Obama Can Permanently Eliminate the Gas Tax, Cut Pork and Help the Environment
John McCain and Hillary Clinton have both supported the idea of a "Gas Tax Holiday". The whole idea of a Holy Day to celebrate the worship of socialized transportation catered by Santa Clinton/McCain seems pretty absurd to me. Nonetheless, they expect pandering to gas-addicted voters to pay off in … [Read more...]