October 25, 2007 6:32
The case for giving up on Buffalo
Harvard economist Edward Glaeser has a provocative article in City Journal (the Manhattan Institute's publication; that's two MI references in two blog posts. Crazy!) making the case that state and federal politicians should stop spending money trying to resurrect Buffalo (via his Harvard colleague Greg Mankiw):
Scores of close to worthless urban projects have received government funding not because any cost-benefit analysis has justified them but because of hazy claims that they would make some once-great area thrive again. It’s almost impossible to imagine that the billions already spent on Buffalo’s urban-renewal projects would satisfy any reasonable cost-benefit analysis for helping to reverse the city’s decline. The desire of people and firms to move is just too strong.
Glaeser is almost certainly right. But still I wonder, do his cost-benefit calculations factor in the economic impact of Rick James? I mean, if there were no Buffalo, it seems unlikely that there would be a Super Freak.
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Justin Fox is TIME's business and economics columnist. This is his blog. About the Authors
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Reader Comments (7)
So.....I know you were just in Madison......and I know that you used to work at Fortune.....and I know they love to rank things at Fortune....how does Madison rank?
Posted by kert | October 25, 2007 7:28 PM
what is buffalo.who is the profess of the harvard.
Posted by hu you | October 26, 2007 7:06 AM
I am a undergraduate of China,I will take part in the master exam.there is only two months left.
Posted by hu you | October 26, 2007 7:11 AM
The Buffalo that gave up Rick James no longer exists, and isn't coming back....
Thus, we will have to muddle through without the next Rick James in our lives...
Posted by p_lukasiak | October 26, 2007 10:42 AM
Well, I don't know who said it, but everyone's gotta be from somewhere. The Wikipedia entry doesn't say that Rick James ever went back to Buffalo (disclosure: I'm from Pittsburgh, and haven't looked back).
The tale of woe that is Buffalo reminds me of the commercial I see on CNN every morning these days of Michigan trying to attract new industries. That may have worked 50 years ago, when a manufacturing facility brought in ten thousand jobs and hundreds of suppliers. Modern industries bring in hundreds of jobs at best.
If Silicon Valley taught us anything, it is that organic growth is far superior to imported jobs. Instilling the culture and skills that to take control of our own destiny and grow our own future seems to be the only practical way of creating the numbers of jobs required to keep these old industrial centers viable.
Posted by Peter V. | October 26, 2007 2:17 PM
I just read the article in question -- and its a perfect example of why conservatives should never be allowed to govern.
While acknowledging the way that changes in transportation and electricity transmission have changed Buffalo, Glaeser pretty much blames the city's continued decline on high taxes (and too much state regulation). He is so bent ideologically that while he blames a "liberal" mayor for the city's decline of the 60's, he praises the "law and order" mayor of the 70's, and blames the city's even greater decline on outside factors.
But the kicker is his solution -- better education and safer streets...and of course lower taxes. It never occurs to him that these things cost money -- which of course comes from taxes.
I guess in the future, when you write that an article is "provocative", I should interprete it as "really stupid"?
Posted by p_lukasiak | October 26, 2007 4:44 PM
Buffalo's lingering decline has been attributed to a variety of factors. One leading cause has been the lack of fiscal responsibilty in local government. The need for effecient and effective government has consistently been ignored. While I disagree with many of Joel Giambra's policies, one idea showed some degree of promise, regionalism. Regionalism would streamline local governments ability to provide public services thus reducing the tax load on citizens.
Posted by Shawn | October 27, 2007 10:47 PM