Monday, February 14, 2011

Get Over Jefferson

Ed Glaeser, a serious economist, has written a book on cities, and has a quick hit on NYTimes' Freakonomics blog. He praises cities as centers of innovation and environmentalism:
Henry David Thoreau’s sylvan lifestyle led him to destroy more than 300 acres of prime woodland (courtesy of an accidental forest fire he sparked). He would have done much less harm if he had lived in Boston...

Get Over Jefferson. America is, remarkably, still held captive by a Jeffersonian ideal of yeoman farmers and country living.
I hope to get a chance to read the book - Triumph of the City - soon.

6 comments:

Macro Guy said...

This post is dedicated to Mom and Carol D, who have made Global Review part of their daily routine.

bpf said...

ahem!!! [coughcough]

Anonymous said...

Dude - I came through every weekday for the 16 days since you last posted.

FYI - Glaeser was on the Daily Show last night.

Ali Baba

Macro Guy said...

I didn't mean to imply that no one else checks the blog daily; I appreciate you all. The ladies merely commented about the lack of posts, and received my comment as a reply.

Mom said...

Wow, I feel honored.

Carol Douglas said...

Me too... too bad that I was so busy when you posted this that I missed it.

I am a happy urban dweller, but I think Jefferson was more talking about "stakeholders" rather than specifically about rural yeoman.

On the other hand, I can't help but notice how economically successful the Amish are through eschewing the modern economy.