Fast Takes: Cowen and Furman
Two more short podcasts on *Build, Baby, Build*
Here are the next two installments of my “Fast Takes on Build, Baby, Build” series of short podcasts with cool people.
1. Tyler Cowen of Marginal Revolution and Emergent Ventures walked down the hall to my office for a free-wheeling in-person dialogue. Is Tyler a YIMBY? A NIMBY? Or something else entirely? Why should we deregulate Oakland instead of San Francisco? Why not privatize the Grand Canyon? Very fun.
2. Former CEA head Jason Furman — and Harvard’s current Ec10 teacher — joins me to talk salesmanship. How can economists convince the world that we’re right about housing deregulation? How can Jason convince his fellow Democrats, especially after they win Nobel prizes and start “rethinking economics”? Again, very fun.
In the talk with Tyler, that bit at the end about a new city getting stuff done in the first few years of creation and then tapering off reminded me of this post by Scott Aaronson: https://scottaaronson.blog/?p=762
Honest question: how do you choose those cities or neighborhoods that should keep strict zoning regulations?
Just voting? Should expert opinion (architects) have any weight on the decision process?