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E-books for everyone!

September 2, 2011 By Stephen Smith

The era of liberals writing e-books about market urbanism is upon us! I knew about Matt Yglesias’ upcoming “Kindle Single” The Rent is Too Damn High, but Ryan Avent’s The Gated City took me by surprise. Ryan’s book has a “print length” of 90 pages, costs $1.99, and despite the name “Kindle Single,” can be downloaded to pretty much any computer or smart phone.

I haven’t read it yet, but I’m going to download it soon. Consider this an open thread to discuss the book(s).

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Filed Under: Economics, zoning Tagged With: books

About Stephen Smith

I graduated Spring 2010 from Georgetown undergrad, with an entirely unrelated and highly regrettable major that might have made a little more sense if I actually wanted to become an international trade lawyer, but which alas seems good for little else.

I still do most of the tweeting for Market Urbanism

Stephen had previously written on urbanism at Forbes.com. Articles Profile; Reason Magazine, and Next City

Comments

  1. Alon Levy says

    September 5, 2011 at 5:45 am

    Let me know how it is. (I do not own a Kindle, a Nook, or any similar device, and have no intention of acquiring one. They are to browsing at a bookstore what driving is to walking on a commercial street.)

  2. Stephen Smith says

    September 8, 2011 at 3:14 am

    It’s pretty good – he focuses a lot on more macro productivity issues than micro land use regulations, which is probably for the best since I spend so much time focusing on micro issues. Essentially his argument is that one reason the economy has been slowing these past few decades is that we don’t allow our most productive and high-wage cities like SF and NYC to grow, so low-wage Sunbelt cities get all the growth, and national average wealth stagnates.

    You don’t need a Kindle to read it – you can download a free Kindle app for just about any electronic device. I read it on my MacBook, but Amazon has Kindle apps for most smartphones, too.

  3. JimmyO says

    September 8, 2011 at 5:04 pm

    He ignores differences in the cost of living.  How is a worker better off in SF or NYC if his wages are 50% higher but the cost of living is 60% higher?  How is an employer better off if his workers are 50% more productive but his cost of doing business is 60% higher?

  4. Stephen Smith says

    September 8, 2011 at 6:56 pm

    Cost of living is largely due to housing (and commercial property) costs, which would presumably be brought down by his policy recommendation, which is to allow more supply growth in tight urban real estate markets (i.e., all urban real estate markets).

  5. JimmyO says

    September 8, 2011 at 7:11 pm

    But he can’t assume that if the cost of living fell significantly, productivity would not also fall significantly.  If these cities became more affordable they would become more attractive to the lower-wage, lower-skill industries and workers that have been fleeing to cities like Houston and Phoenix to escape the high costs of cities like SF and NYC.

  6. Alon Levy says

    September 15, 2011 at 2:31 am

    Fair enough… but, serious question: has economic growth actually been slowing down? (Well, productivity growth was terrible from 1973 to 1995, for debatable reasons, but it’s not as if the anti-density regulations suddenly changed in the 1990s. We see suburbanization of poverty and urban gentrification, but the net movement of population back to the city is only noticeable if you know where to look.)

    My recollection is that US economic growth has basically been constant since the late 1800s. There are good periods (1950s-60s) and bad periods (2000s), but on average the trend is pretty consistent. If your null hypothesis is trend-stationary growth, the actual GDP numbers are different from the null by a statistically insignificant amount.

Trackbacks

  1. eBooks and Cities « City Block says:
    September 7, 2011 at 11:03 pm

    […] to e-books isn’t completely without remorse.  Alon Levy noted (in the comments) his refusal to buy an e-book, noting “they are to browsing at a bookstore what driving is to […]

  2. Isabel Marant Boots says:
    February 23, 2014 at 11:34 am

    Isabel Marant Boots

    E-books for everyone! | Market Urbanism

  3. topnotchsiding.net says:
    February 24, 2014 at 9:28 pm

    … [Trackback]

    […] Read More: marketurbanism.com/2011/09/02/e-books-for-everyone/ […]

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