Aaron M. Renn

All Things Aaron

Drivers of Economic Divergence

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My latest Governing column talks about some of the drivers of economic divergence between regions, including globalization, technological change, and lifestyle preferences. The challenge for promoting a more equitable growth distribution is that most of these came from the market. So it will really take market change to address them. But others were a result of conscious policy changes we can reconsider. Here's an excerpt: We’re seeing other new trends contributing to economic centralization, such as the relocation of corporate headquarters … [Read more...]

America’s Urban Middle Neighborhoods

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I was pleased to recently get to attend a conference about America's middle neighborhoods hosted by the American Assembly and the Richmond Fed. They are looking at the fate of America's in-between urban neighborhoods, ones neither poor nor rich. These former urban bulwarks have been increasingly tipping towards decline. I discuss this in my latest piece over at City Journal: One of the culprits here is sprawl. In slow-growing regions where new home construction exceeds household growth, new homes put downward pressure on the price of … [Read more...]

Innovating Regulation

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I was privileged to be part of an Aspen Institute working group on regulation and the innovation economy. Aspen's Center for Urban Innovation, headed by Jennifer Bradley, just launched a web site devoted to the topic. In incorporates a number of interesting case studies to learn from, including the Austin's attempts to regulate Uber and Lyft, and attempts to launch to home cooked meal delivery platform Josephine in the Bay Area. I also recorded some podcasts some people and businesses who were involved with the project. This included my … [Read more...]

Torn Between Two Worlds

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Last year I wrote about Caity Cronkhite, a Covington, Indiana native whose angry screed against her home town went viral. Michael Philipps of the Wall Street Journal recently wrote a fantastic profile of Caity, who subsequently became disillusioned with her new hometown in the Bay Area as well, and had second thoughts about her Indiana hometown as well. Here are some excepts: She posted the essay on the blog site Medium, she said, to spotlight the disadvantages faced by rural youth. “My academic background at a low-ranking, rural public … [Read more...]

Starter Ideas for Changing the Game in the Midwest

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Yesterday's post about the Midwest playing a game it can't win hit a nerve. Some folks liked it. Others disagreed. John Austin posted a tweetstorm about it. Firstly, Midwest places very much can focus on attracting a greater share of the nation's immigrants or spending more on universities. That might do some places some good - as it's already doing for college towns and state capitals - but isn't a general purpose turnaround plan. Secondly, there is a place for small ball thinking. A lot of my work is about what cities or states can do … [Read more...]

Should the Midwest Play a Game It Can’t Win?

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Noah Smith at Bloomberg wrote a recent column on how to revive the Midwest that channels the ideas of Michigan based Brookings scholar John Austin. This strategy has two main planks: lure more immigrants and invest more in higher education (presumably research universities). This is a fine and dandy idea. There's only one problem: In an economy driven by immigrants and university research, which places are likely to win? The places that are already winning this very battle: the elite coastal cities like Boston, New York, and the Bay … [Read more...]

Cronyism on an Industrial Scale to Blame for Inflated New York Subway Costs

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Just before year end, the New York Times dropped a bombshell report on what they term "the most expensive mile of subway on earth." An extensive investigation by the Times finally starts to get at the heart of why construction costs on the New York subway are vastly higher than anywhere else in the world. The inescapable conclusion is that a major culprit is industrial scale cronyism (or featherbedding, or corruption, or whatever you want to call it) infecting nearly every aspect of the system: employees, contractors, and … [Read more...]

Fortress New Year’s Eve

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New Year's Eve on Times Square was frigid - and also felt like a military encampment. NYPD was out in force in the wake of recent terrorist attacks in the city. All things considered, the evening seems to have gone off very well. I was down in the area in the early afternoon. Friends from out of town wanted to have brunch at their usual spot, the Lamb's Club on 44th, which is basically at Times Square. NYPD had set up a perimeter around Times Square starting at 6th Avenue on the East, and had blocked off all cross streets, including to … [Read more...]

How Can America Create the Startup It Needs?

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I recently caught up with Dane Stangler of the Startup Genome project to talk about startups in the US. He talks about the general decline in startup activity, the geography of startups, how to create a startup cluster, and the role of broadband access in startup creation. If the audio player for the podcast doesn't show up for you, click over to listen on Soundcloud. https://soundcloud.com/aaronrenn/how-can-america-create-the-startups-it-needs-with-dane-stangler Subscribe to podcast via iTunes | Soundcloud. … [Read more...]

Bringing Down Housing Prices in the Bay Area

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On Sunday the New York Times ran a story on the difficulties of building new housing in California, focusing on the city of Berkeley.  There's a lot of good in the piece, including the insane difficulties of getting approvals to build even when you propose something in keeping with the existing zoning. But it misses a lot too. Firstly, it focuses on building more multifamily housing in existing single family neighborhoods. That seems to be the main lever it believes needs to be pulled to bring down housing costs. The idea that the Bay Area … [Read more...]