Archive - Hot Blocks

Mistaking motion for progress in urban policy

Why policy conversations around housing and transit keep getting stuck on the wrong metrics.

May 15 •

April 2025

The Founder Kings of Silicon Valley

How does Zuck fully control Meta despite owning only 13.5% of it? Supervoting shares. For decades, stock structure has been treated as corporate law…

Apr 9 •

March 2025

Procurement and Infrastructure Costs

New podcast interview with Zach Liscow, former OMB Chief Economist and current Yale Law School professor.

Mar 26 •

February 2025

How Much Road Does America Have?

New interview on Densely Speaking explores this understudied topic.

Feb 24 •

Street Design Essentialism: Part I

A growing share of street safety activists have talked themselves into a fantasy.

Feb 18 •

January 2025

Beyond Congestion Pricing

I'm elated that it has begun. But it grinds my gears that NYC has ignored so many options for improving transport—including ones that, unlike congestion…

Jan 7 •

I've got a bridge to sell you

What do the most important US-Canada crossing, Brooklyn Bridge, and Golden Gate have in common? Deep involvement of the private sector—which might be…

Jan 2 •

December 2024

Updating My Priors on Self-Driving Cars

The tech is really good, which should cause urbanists to update their priors about direct and second-order effects.

Dec 27, 2024 •

September 2024

How should parking be priced in college towns?

The literature to date has emphasized pricing in big cities. What about college towns?

Sep 4, 2024 •

July 2024

Houses and cars can be albatrosses. What does this mean for policy?

Home and car ownership are unaffordable to many—and that's inherent in their cost structure. Would it be better for policy to accept this and build…

Jul 20, 2024 •

Shameless plug for an urban economics podcast I co-host, "Densely Speaking"

We released a new scholarly interview today that I think you'll find interesting. It is about a new paper on blockbusting as a barrier to Black wealth.

Jul 8, 2024 •

June 2024

Missing the Mark? An Exploration of Target-Date Funds

83% of Vanguard savers use target-date funds for retirement. These funds offer advantages—especially simplicity. What's in them?

Jun 19, 2024 •

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