Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Economics

Pandora's box? Photo: Paul Swansen/Flickr

Amazon Could Kill Car-Dependent Big Box Retail. Will It Also Kill Main Street?

By Stephen Miller | Apr 26, 2017 | 15 Comments

Amazon is chipping away at the dominance of big box stores, which might warm the hearts of people who watched Walmart and other retailers ruthlessly suck the life out of walkable downtowns for years on end. But is it really a good thing?

How Cutting Back on Driving Helps the Economy

By Joe Cortright | Jul 28, 2015 | 11 Comments

Cross-posted from City Observatory As Americans drive less and spend less on fuel, they have about $150 billion annually to spend in other ways. There are two kinds of economics: macroeconomics, which deals in big national and global quantities, like gross domestic product, and microeconomics, which focuses on a smaller scale, like how the prices […]

The Importance of Driving to the U.S. Economy Started Waning in the 70s

By Angie Schmitt | Dec 18, 2014 | 23 Comments

Earlier this year, following a slight uptick in U.S. traffic volumes, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a press release, “More people driving means our economy is picking up speed.” He’s not the only person to equate traffic with economic growth. Even former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg once said, “We like traffic, it […]

How Much Would It Cost to Minneapolize the Country?

By Elly Blue | May 29, 2014 | 11 Comments

What would it cost to retrofit the entire United States to be reasonably bikeable? It all began with this idle question on Twitter. Bike advocates in the U.S. love to talk about incremental changes, small victories, baby steps. But, I wondered, what if we went further? What if we just went ahead and retrofitted the […]

Our Cities Can’t Afford So Many Rooftop Spas

By Tanya Snyder | Mar 31, 2014 | 8 Comments

First, let me be clear: Tomorrow is April Fools, not today. This is real. There are luxury apartment buildings in Washington, DC, trying to lure renters with communal puppies. That sounds like the makings of a tiny tombstone engraved with “Tragedy of the Commons,” if you ask me. Who’s going to take responsibility for a […]

HUD and U.S. DOT Embrace Housing + Transportation Metric for Affordability

By Tanya Snyder | Nov 12, 2013 | 19 Comments

A few years ago, the Center for Neighborhood Technology gave a wonderful gift to urbanists and planners: the Housing + Transportation Index. This simple calculation clarified and popularized a key concept: that transportation costs must be taken into account in any measurement of “affordability.” Without that, potential homebuyers and renters make the mistake of “saving” […]

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