Edward Glaeser

Glaeser is a Harvard economist who studies why cities exist and Triumph of the City is the argument in one volume: that density makes people richer and more inventive, that a city dweller has a smaller environmental footprint than a suburban one, and that much of what planning rules and preservation orders achieve is to raise the price of living somewhere and keep newcomers out. The uncomfortable corollary, which critics press him on, is who gets displaced when a neighbourhood is allowed to build. His research on housing supply and regulation has moved actual policy arguments in several countries.