Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Made Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier and Happier

by Edward Glaeser

  The broader intellectual debts of this book are enormous. I have been profoundly influenced by my teachers, my colleagues, my coauthors, my students, and the many great urbanists whose work I have long admired. This book’s core thesis—that ideas spread easily in dense environments—was taught to me at the University of Chicago, and I very much saw the process in action, as I learned from Gary Becker, Edward Lazear, Sherwin Rosen, and George Tolley. The ideas in this book are particularly indebted to the early influence of Jose Scheinkman and Robert Lucas.

  I have been blessed by wonderful colleagues at Harvard who have taught me much about cities, including Alan Altshuler, John Campbell, David Cutler, Benjamin Friedman, Roland Fryer, Claudia Goldin, Tony Gomez-Ibanez, Lawrence Katz, and Andrei Shleifer. I am particularly indebted to John Kain and John Meyer, two great figures in the economics of cities who are sadly gone.

  Many of the ideas in this book were first expressed in academic articles that were coauthored with David Cutler, Denise DiPasquale, Glenn Ellison, Jess Gaspar, Joseph Gyourko, Matthew Kahn, Hedi Kallal, William Kerr, Janet Kohlhase, Jose Scheinkman, and Andrei Shleifer. Many of those articles have also been written with students and former students, including Alberto Ades, Guy Dumais, Joshua Gottlieb, Jed Kolko, David Mare, Matthew Resseger, Bruce Sacerdote, Albert Saiz, Jesse Shapiro, and Jacob Vigdor.

  It would take a long and tedious bibliographic essay to mention all the distinguished urbanists who have moved my thinking, but it should be obvious that much of the book bears the imprint of Jane Jacobs, who bestrides the world of cities like a colossus.

  Following common practices, Wikipedia is not listed in the bibliography or citations, because any Wikipedia fact was verified with a more standard source. But I still have a great debt to the anonymous toilers of Wikipedia who made my research much easier at many points in time. I apologize if any phrases from that, or any other source, crept into my prose—one research assistant was assigned the explicit task of purging such inadvertent borrowing—but mistakes do sometimes get through.

  Finally, I would like to express my particular gratitude to my family for their support of forty years of thinking about cities. My late father, Ludwig Glaeser, started me thinking about urban design when I was a child. My mother, Elizabeth Glaeser, first taught me about economics, and has been a bulwark throughout everything. My stepfather, Edmund Chaitman, has also greatly shaped my understanding of people and the world. My children, Theodore, Elizabeth, and Nicholas, have been remarkably patient as I dragged them from Houston to Ravenna. They have been a constant source of inspiration and joy.

  Above all, though, I am grateful to my wife, Nancy Schwartz Glaeser, to whom this book is dedicated. She has been a wonderful partner in this project, as she is in life. She has helped edit the volume and given constant feedback. She also led the book’s image selection and assembly. Her love and support mean everything.

  NOTES

  Most of the notes are given in abbreviated form. Full citations for these can be found in the bibliography, alphabetized by the first word in the note reference. In the case of the U.S. Census Bureau and a few other government entities, however, most citations are given in full in the notes without a separate bibliography entry.

  INTRODUCTION: OUR URBAN SPECIES

  1 Two hundred forty-three million Americans . . . is urban: The population of the United States in July of 2009 was 307,006,550, and 79 percent of the population lives on urban land. Thus, the urban population is 242,535,175. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Services, Major Uses of Land in the United States 2002, “Urban and Rural Residential Uses.” http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/EIB14/eib14g.pdf and U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for the United States, Regions, States, and Puerto Rico: April 1, 2000, to July 1, 2009 (NST-EST2009-01), http://www.census.gov/popest/states/NST-ann-est.html.

  1 Thirty-six million people live . . . in the world: PricewaterhouseCoopers, “Which Are the Largest City Economies?”

  1 Twelve million people reside . . . almost as large: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, World Urbanization Prospects: 2009, File 12, “Population of Urban Agglomerations with 750,000 Inhabitants or More in 2009, by Country, 1950-2025,” http://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/CD-ROM_2009/WUP2009-F12-Cities_Over_750K.xls.

  1 all of humanity could fit . . . townhouse: Texas has 261,797 square miles of land, or 7.3 trillion square feet of land. According to the U.S. Census, the world population is approximately 6.9 billion as of July 12, 2010. If we divide 7.3 trillion square feet by 6.9 billion people, we get 1,034 square feet per capita, which is more than enough ground area for a modest townhouse per person. If we wanted to allocate for roads, commerce, and so on, we might have to assume that there were an average of two people living in each townhouse. U.S. Census 2000, GCT-PH1: Population, Housing Units, Area, and Density 2000, Summary File 1, 100-Percent Data, generated using American FactFinder; and U.S. Census Bureau, International Database, World Population Summary, www.census.gov/ipc/www/idb/worldpopinfo.php.

  1 Five million more people . . . is urban: United Nations Habitat, State of the World’s Cities 2010/2011—Cities for All: Bridging the Urban Divide, 2010. http://www.unhabitat.org/pmss/listItemDetails.aspx?publicationID=2917.

  3 Grand Central Terminal, which has more platforms: “Largest Railroad Station” (by number of platforms), Guinness World Records 2008 (New York: Bantam Dell, 2007), 374-75.

  3 Forty-seventh Street . . . gems: 47th Street Business Improvement District, The Diamond District, www.diamonddistrict.org/home.html.

  3 Under the leadership of . . . taxes in the nation: Henig, “New York City: Paying the Tab.”

  3 New York, or more properly . . . (now Wall Street): Burrows and Wallace, Gotham.

  3 In the eighteenth century . . . sugar and tobacco colonies: Glaeser, “Urban Colossus,” 9, 11.

  3 During the first half . . . urban colossus: Gibson, “Population of the 100 Largest Cities.”

  3 At the start . . . the natural hub: Albion, Rise of New York Port, 38-54; and Glaeser, “Urban Colossus,” 12.

  4 Shipping was the city’s . . . around the harbor: Glaeser, “Urban Colossus,” 14.

  4 Sugar producers . . . English novels: Burrows and Wallace, Gotham, ch. 27.

  4 The Harper brothers: Mott, Golden Multitudes, 68.

  4 In the twentieth century . . . mammoth: Glaeser and Kohlhase, “Decline of Transport Costs.”

  5 Today, the five zip codes . . . Oregon or Nevada: The five zip codes are 10017, 10019, 10020, 10022, and 10036. According to County Business Patterns, the combined payroll in these areas in 2007 was over $80 billion, and total employment was 617,984. When we divide total payroll by total employment, we calculate average earnings of approximately $130,000 per worker. In the County Business Patterns, 2007 payroll in Oregon was $56 billion and in Nevada was $44.4 billion, and 2007 employment in New Hampshire was 573,209 and in Maine was 503,789. U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2007, www.census.gov/econ/cbp.

  5 Academic knowledge about . . . assets: Bernstein, Against the Gods, 300-302.

  5 Michael Milken’s high-yield (junk) bonds: Lewis, Liar’s Poker, 111.

  5 Henry Kravis to use those . . . leveraged buyouts: “The Team,” KKR, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., 2010, www.kkr.com/team/theteam.cfm.

  5 mortgage-backed security magnate . . . mailroom: Lewis, Liar’s Poker, 96.

  5 Today, 40 percent . . . still- thriving city: Because New York County is equal to Manhattan, we are able to add up the total payroll of all industries in New York County in 2007, which is nearly $210 billion. Payroll in the financial services industry—North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes 521, 522, 523, and 525—is nearly $84 billion; $84 billion divided by $210 billion equals 39.88 percent. U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2007, www.census.gov/econ/cbp.

  5 Between 2009 and 2010, as the American economy... outside of Greater New York. Bureau
of Labor Statistics, Economic News Releases, County Employment and Wages, “Table 1. Covered establishments, employment, and wages in the 327 largest counties, first quarter 2010,” http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cewqtr.t01.htm. (Last modified date: October 19, 2010.)

  6 Within the United States... higher costs of living: Using the 2000 U.S. Census Integrated Public Use Microdata Series, we keep the observations for men aged 25-55. We drop any observations where a person is not in the labor force or works less than full-time (defined as at least 35 hours per week and at least 40 weeks per year). We also drop any observations where a person earns a salary less than the salary earned by a worker earning minimum wage and working less than half-time (that is, less than one half times 1,400 hours per year, which is 35 hours per week times 40 weeks per year). Finally, we drop any outliers (those earning less than the 1st percentile, or more than the 99th percentile). We compare the average of those living in nonmetropolitan areas ($58,665.72 per year, in 2000 dollars) with those living in large (populations of 1 million or more) metropolitan areas ($77,086.05 per year, in 2000 dollars). The difference between these two numbers is $18,420.33, which is 31 percent higher than the average salary of those living in nonmetropolitan areas. Ruggles et al., Microdata Series.

  6 Americans who live . . . stronger in poorer nations: Using 2008 GDP for Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and MSA population from the U.S. Census Bureau, we determine the GDP per capita for each MSA by dividing GDP by population. We then find the average GDP per capita for MSAs with more than 1 million people in 2008, which is $52,546.85 per capita. We find the average GDP per capita for MSAs with less than 1 million people in 2008, which is $38,090.70, or 38 percent less than $52,546.85. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Gross Domestic Product by Metropolitan Area, www.bea.gov/regional/gdpmetro; U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division, Table 5, Estimates of Population Change for Metropolitan Statistical Areas and Rankings: July 1, 2007, to July 1, 2008 (CBSA-EST2008-05), March 19, 2009, www.census.gov/popest/metro/tables/2008/CBSA-EST2008-05.xls.

  7 Bangalore, India’s fifth-largest city: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, World Urbanization Prospects: 2009, File 12, Population of Urban Agglomerations with 750,000 Inhabitants or More in 2009, by Country, 1950-2025, http://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/CD-ROM_2009/WUP2009-F12-Cities_Over_750K.xls

  7 Echoing antiurbanites . . . “700,000 villages”: Kumar, “The Whole Truth of a Home Economy,” 135.

  7 “the growth . . . its villages”: Gandhi, Essential Writings, 120.

  7 near-perfect correlation: Author’s calculations using Maddison, “Statistics on World Population”; and United Nations, Population by Sex and Urban/Rural Residence, http://data.un.org.

  7 On average . . . 30 percent: Ibid.

  8 An explosion . . . of that process: White, Birth and Rebirth of Pictorial Space.

  8 Eight of the ten . . . since then: In 2008, Detroit’s population was 777,493. This is 42 percent of the 1950 population of 1,849,568. The ten largest cities in America in 1950 were (in descending order) New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Detroit, Baltimore, Cleveland, St. Louis, Washington, D.C, and Boston. All but New York and Los Angeles have lost population by 2008. American Community Survey, 2008 Data Profile for the United States and the City of Detroit, generated using American FactFinder; and Gibson, “Population of the 100 Largest Cities.” See Glaeser, “Can Buffalo Ever Come Back?” for further discussion of that particular declining city.

  9 if $200 billion: $200 billion divided by the population of New Orleans before Katrina (437,186) is about $457,471 per person. American Community Survey, 2005 Data Profile for the City of New Orleans, generated using American FactFinder.

  10 More than a quarter . . . five years ago: In 2000, the population of Manhattan age five or older was 1,462,015. The population of those who had lived in another county in 1995 was 381,919, or 26 percent. U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Summary File 3, Sample Data, Table P4; residence in 1995 for the population five and older, county and state level, generated using American FactFinder.

  10 poverty rates in Rio . . . rural northeast: This is discussed in further detail in chapter 3. Rio de Janeiro has a poverty rate of about 9 percent, while the rural northeast has a rate of 55 percent. Skoufias and Katayama, “Sources of Welfare Disparities.”

  10 they were spending . . . postal service: Cutler and Miller, “Water, Water Everywhere,” 183-86.

  10 New York City... as a whole: Life expectancy for a male born in 1901 in New York was 40.6. Life expectancy for an American male at birth in 1901 was 47.6. New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Summary of Vital Statistics 1961, table 6; and Arias, “United States Life Tables, 2006,” table 12.

  11 Because she saw . . . ensure affordability: Jacobs, Death and Life, 187-99.

  12 sight lines . . . preservation first: Le Plan Local d’Urbanisme, www.paris.fr/portail/pratique/Portal.lut?page_id=6576&document_type_id=5&document_id=753&portlet_id=14938, with an objective to “préserver le patrimoine architectural et urbain” (preserve the architectural and urban heritage). The texts related to the plan are listed at www.paris.fr/portail/pratique/Portal.lut?page_id=7042&document_type_id=4&document_id=21439&portlet_id=16186.

  12 The Prince . . . Cathedral: Many newspaper articles discuss various stands or complaints of the prince’s regarding this issue. For example, see Alan Hamilton, “You’re Scraping Wrong Part of the Sky.”

  12 Mumbai’s . . . one-and-a-third stories: Bertaud, “Mumbai FSI Conundrum,” 4.

  12 Shanghai remains far more affordable: Gómez-Ibáñez and Ruiz Nuñez, “Inefficient Cities.”

  13 average commute . . . twenty-four minutes: Glaeser and Kahn, “Sprawl,” 2499-2500.

  14 At Walden Pond... “insignificant”: Thoreau, Walden, Routledge, 117.

  14 “parklike setting” of suburbs: Mumford, City in History, 492.

  14 “deterioration of the environment”: Ibid., 461.

  14 Fewer than a third... New York City: Author’s calculations from the American Community Survey, 2008 Data Profile for the City of New York and the United States, generated using American FactFinder.

  15 Carbon emissions . . . Chinese metropolitan area: Zheng et al., “Greenness of China.”

  15 If per capita . . . only 30 percent: In 2006, per capita emissions in the United States were 19.78 metric tons. In France, they were 6.60 metric tons; in China, 4.58 metric tons; and in India, 1.16 metric tons. Total emissions in 2006 were 29.195 billion metric tons. If we subtract from this total China’s 2006 emissions (1.314 billion people times 4.58 metric tons per capita for a total of 6.018 billion tons) as well as India’s (1.112 billion people times 1.16 metric tons per capita for a total of 1.293 billion tons), and then add China’s total emissions if they were at the U.S. per capita level (1.314 billion people times 19.78 metric tons for a total of 25.998 billion tons) as well as India’s (1.112 billion people times 19.78 metric tons per capita for a total of 21.988 billion tons), the new world total would be 69.8601 billion tons, an increase of 139 percent. If, instead, we used France’s 6.60 metric tons per capita figure, China’s revised emissions would be 8.668 billion (1.314 billion people times 6.60 metric tons per capita) and India’s would be 7.334 billion (1.112 billion people times 6.60 metric tons per capita), for a revised world total of 37.887 billion tons, or an increase of about 30 percent. U.S. Energy Information Administration, International Energy Annual 2006, table H.1cco2, “World Per Capita Carbon Dioxide Emissions from the Consumption and Flaring of Fossil Fuels, 1980-2006,” www.eia.doe.gov/pub/international/iealf/tableh1cco2.xls.

  CHAPTER 1: WHAT DO THEY MAKE IN BANGALORE?

  18 India’s powerful labor unions: Besley and Burgess, “Can Labor Regulation Hinder Economic Performance?” 92.

  18 sold it to MIH Holdings: See, for example, Ranjan, “Bixee, Pixrat Acquired.”

  18 One ranking agency . . . 2010: Real Website Worth, “bixee.com,”
realwebsiteworth.com, http://208.87.241.248/traffic_report/bixee.com.

  18 He has since left MIH: The Web site is Educrest.com, though the site is currently under construction. Jacob, “Now, Social Networking Gets a Voice.”

  19 Athens was hardly the intellectual center: Hall, Cities in Civilization, 26.

  19 The most exciting Greek thinkers . . . older civilizations of the Near East: Ibid.

  19 Miletus . . . Thales: McNeill, Western Civilization, 58.

  19 Hippodamus, whose gridlike plans: Cartledge, Ancient Greece, 54.

  19 Athens grew by trading wine, olive oil, spices, and papyrus: Hall, Cities in Civilization, 49-50.

  19 The city cemented its power . . . places like Miletus: Cartledge, Ancient Greece, 98.

  19 Just as rich, ebullient . . . battle-scarred Asia Minor: Ibid., 104.

  19 Hippodamus came from Miletus to plan the city’s harbor: Ibid., 54, 91.

  19 This remarkable period . . . freedom to share their ideas: Ibid., 104.

  20 Theodoric, saw the advantage of cities like Ravenna: “Theodoric (King of Italy)” Encyclopædia Britannica.

  20 But while the Goths and Huns . . . deliver food and water: McNeill, Western Civilization, 207.

  20 Charlemagne . . . sophisticated civilization: Pagden, Worlds at War.

  20 A thousand years ago . . . Constantinople: Chandler, Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth, 538.

  20 The other three . . . were all Islamic: Bairoch, Cities and Economic Development.

  20 The Islamic caliphates . . . powerful emirs and caliphs: Lyons, House of Wisdom.

  21 The Abbasid caliphs . . . physical and human marvels: Ibid., 59, 62.

  21 They collected scholars . . . translate it into Arabic: Ibid., 63.

  21 The scholars there translated . . . mathematical knowledge: Durant, Age of Faith, 240-41.