
The Economy of Cities

In 1857, Scientific American specified the minimum machinery for a one-hundred-acre farm as “a combined reaper and mower, a horse rake, a seed planter and a mower, a thresher and grain cleaner; portable grist mill, a corn sheller, a horse power, three harrows, roller, [and] two cultivators . . .” But it’s much harder to relate Armory mechanization
... See moreCharles R. Morris • The Tycoons: How Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J. P. Morgan Invented the American Supereconomy
In this group of chapters on decline and regeneration, I intend to dwell on several powerful forces that can influence, for good or for ill, the growth of diversity and vitality in cities, once an area is not crippled by lack of one or more of the four conditions necessary for generating diversity. These forces, in the form that they work for ill,
... See moreJane Jacobs • The Death and Life of Great American Cities
In the twenty-first century, many dimensions of sustainable development will require public goods on a multi-country or global scale. Rivers, ecosystems, pollution, climate control, international financial flows, the Internet, power transmission, highway systems, railroad networks, and aviation all require strong regional and global cooperation. No
... See moreJeffrey D. Sachs • The Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions
Behind this frenzied expansion of long-neglected ports was the emergence of an entirely new line of thought about economic growth. Manufacturing was almost universally regarded as the bedrock of a healthy local economy in the 1960s, and much of the value of a port, aside from jobs on the docks, was that transportation-conscious manufacturers would
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