1
Opinion
A Straphangers’ Campaign
The New York City mayoral candidates need to build on Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s transit improvements, in every borough.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/29/opinion/krugman-stranded-by-sprawl.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
"Detroit is a symbol of the old economy’s decline. It’s not just the
derelict center; the metropolitan area as a whole lost population
between 2000 and 2010, the worst performance among major cities.
Atlanta, by contrast, epitomizes the rise of the Sun Belt; it gained
more than a million people over the same period, roughly matching the
performance of Dallas and Houston without the extra boost from oil.
Yet in one important respect booming Atlanta looks just like Detroit
gone bust: both are places where the American dream seems to be dying,
where the children of the poor have great difficulty climbing the
economic ladder. In fact, upward social mobility — the extent to which
children manage to achieve a higher socioeconomic status than their
parents — is even lower in Atlanta than it is in Detroit. And it’s far
lower in both cities than it is in, say, Boston or San Francisco, even
though these cities have much slower growth than Atlanta.
So what’s the matter with Atlanta? A new study suggests that the city
may just be too spread out, so that job opportunities are literally out
of reach for people stranded in the wrong neighborhoods. Sprawl may be
killing Horatio Alger.
The new study
comes from the Equality of Opportunity Project, which is led by
economists at Harvard and Berkeley. There have been many comparisons of
social mobility across countries; all such studies find that these days
America, which still thinks of itself as the land of opportunity,
actually has more of an inherited class system than other advanced
nations. The new project asks how social mobility varies across U.S.
cities, and finds that it varies a lot. In San Francisco a child born
into the bottom fifth of the income distribution has an 11 percent
chance of making it into the top fifth, but in Atlanta the corresponding
number is only 4 percent.
When the researchers looked for factors that correlate
with low or high social mobility, they found, perhaps surprisingly,
little direct role for race, one obvious candidate. They did find a
significant correlation with the existing level of inequality: “areas
with a smaller middle class had lower rates of upward mobility.” This
matches what we find in international comparisons,
where relatively equal societies like Sweden have much higher mobility
than highly unequal America. But they also found a significant negative
correlation between residential segregation — different social classes
living far apart — and the ability of the poor to rise.
And in Atlanta poor and rich neighborhoods are far apart because,
basically, everything is far apart; Atlanta is the Sultan of Sprawl,
even more spread out than other major Sun Belt cities. This would make
an effective public transportation system nearly impossible to operate
even if politicians were willing to pay for it, which they aren’t. As a
result, disadvantaged workers often find themselves stranded; there may
be jobs available somewhere, but they literally can’t get there.
The apparent inverse relationship between sprawl and social mobility
obviously reinforces the case for “smart growth” urban strategies, which
try to promote compact centers with access to public transit. But it
also bears on a larger debate about what is happening to American
society. I know I’m not the only person who read the Times article on the new study and immediately thought, “William Julius Wilson.”
A quarter-century ago Mr. Wilson,
a distinguished sociologist, famously argued that the postwar movement
of employment out of city centers to the suburbs dealt African-American
families, concentrated in those city centers, a heavy blow, removing
economic opportunity just as the civil rights movement was finally
ending explicit discrimination. And he further argued that social
phenomena such as the prevalence of single mothers, often cited as
causes of lagging black performance, were actually effects — that is,
the family was being undermined by the absence of good jobs.
These days, you hear less than you used to about alleged
African-American social dysfunction, because traditional families have
become much weaker among working-class whites, too. Why? Well, rising
inequality and the general hollowing out of the job market are probably
the main culprits. But the new research on social mobility suggests that
sprawl — not just the movement of jobs out of the city, but their
movement out of reach of many less-affluent residents of the suburbs,
too — is also playing a role.
As I said, this observation clearly reinforces the case for policies
that help families function without multiple cars. But you should also
see it in the larger context of a nation that has lost its way, that
preaches equality of opportunity while offering less and less
opportunity to those who need it most."
2
N.Y. / Region
Outrage as Homeowners Prepare for Substantially Higher Flood Insurance Rates
Changes in the federal flood insurance program last year and the impact of Hurricane Sandy are helping to drive up rates in the New York region by many thousands of dollars.
3
Health
More on Preventing Hospital Readmissions
Experts offer suggestions for ensuring that discharged patients stay out of the hospital.
4
Opinion
Young, Black and Poor in Brazil
Brazil has made tremendous progress over the past 20 years, except for those at the bottom of the social pyramid.
5
Business Day
Treasury Auctions Set for the Week of July 29
The following tax-exempt fixed-income issues are scheduled for pricing this week.
6
Business Day
E-Commerce Company Learns to Sell Directly on Facebook
For one owner, the biggest challenge was figuring out how to accept payments.
7
Business Day
This Week in Small Business: Pay Cash
Chief financial officers are more optimistic. A report says small businesses are particularly vulnerable to climate change. But for one fishmonger, business still stinks. Do you pay your interns?
8
Booming
Reinvented in His 60s, After 26 Jobless Months
Michael Blattman knows what it’s like to be unemployed for months, but always believing in happy endings, he now has one.
9
N.Y. / Region
Body Found in Hudson Believed to Be 2nd Boat Crash Victim
The police said the body was most likely that of a man who had been missing since an accident on Friday that also killed a bride-to-be.
10
World
A Reunion for War Survivors Who Escaped to India
How thousands of Poles survived the Nazis and the Russians during the World War II and found refuge in India.
11
Business Day
Aberdeen, a City With One Foot on the Seafloor
Since the early 1970s, Aberdeen, Scotland, has evolved from a gritty fishing town into the world's center of innovation in technology for the offshore energy industry.
12
Business Day
Seeking Support, Biotech Food Companies Pledge Transparency
The centerpiece of the effort is a Web site that will answer questions that consumers have about genetically engineered crops.
13
Opinion
Beijing's Play for Porn
The Chinese government has announced yet another anti-pornography campaign in the name of good morals — so that only its media outlets can sell smut.
14
Technology
PC Industry Fights to Adapt as Tablets Muscle In
While sales of PCs to businesses remain steady, demand among consumers has plunged, largely because people are instead buying iPads, Kindle Fires and other tablets.
15
16
World
Delivering a Jolt to India's Teacher Training
A Mumbai group seeks to address a shortage of affordable quality teaching by recruiting mostly poorer local women and turning them into educators.
17
Opinion
Gangplank to a Warm Future
Because of methane leaks, shale gas is not a “bridge” to a renewable energy future — it’s a gangplank to more warming and away from truly clean energy investments.
18
Opinion
Found in Translation
For students of my generation in Iran, translated works opened a wider philosophical imagination, where borders between East and West dissolved.
19
Business Day
How to Gauge SAC on the Richter Scale
SAC Capital Advisors, the hedge fund facing insider trading charges, has $14 billion under management, but $51 billion in total market exposure. If it unwinds, will that sum roil the stock market?
20
Magazine
My Fictional Grandparents
Could I now learn who they really were?
1
Opinion
Another View on Gas Drilling in the Context of Climate Change
Cornell researchers come to different conclusions about the climate impact of fracking.
2
U.S.
White House Ties Immigration Overhaul to Farms
Immigration reform includes a pathway to citizenship and a guest-worker program would shore up the farm labor supply, a White House report argues.
3
Health
Concerns About Dementia Screening
A push for early detection and treatment, even in the absence of cognitive symptoms, of the amyloid plaques that indicate a risk for Alzheimer’s and other dementias has some researchers worried.
4
Health
Report Suggests Sweeping Changes to Cancer Detection and Treatment
The recommendations include changes in the very definition of cancer and eliminating the word entirely from some common diagnoses.
6
Opinion
Found in Translation
7
8
Opinion
Religion and Doubt
Rabbi Harold Kushner explains how Jews often deal with biblical tales that defy belief.
9
10
Business Day
Few Suitors to Build a New Marine One
The bidding for the helicopter, as well as other recent contract troubles, suggests that the goal of creating sharper competition with government contracts is hard to achieve.
11
U.S.
Facing a Recall After Supporting Stronger Gun Laws in Colorado
A recall election in Colorado serves as a national test of whether politicians can survive the fallout of passing strict gun-control measures.
13
Opinion
I Want to Be a Mayor
Crucial economic growth is being generated in cities and metropolitan areas across the country.
14
Sports
Delle Donne Will Miss W.N.B.A. All-Star Game
Elena Delle Donne, the first rookie to lead the W.N.B.A.’s All-Star voting, will miss the All-Star Game on Saturday while recovering from a concussion.
15
Opinion
Gangplank to a Warm Future
16
Opinion
Why Smokers Still Smoke
The personality trait that distinguishes smokers from nonsmokers: poor self-control.
17
World
A Continent Mired in Crisis Coins a Language of Economic Pain
In country after country in Europe, the economic crisis has spawned its own language, brought exotic financial terms into popular use, and generated a darkly humorous slang.
18
19
N.Y. / Region
Bill Would Alter FEMA Policy to Assist Co-ops and Condos
Representative Steve Israel of New York said the bill would amend a law that treats condos and coops as businesses and bars most home relief.
20
No comments:
Post a Comment