## Profile of Harvard Economist Edward Glaeser

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### Background and intellectual influences
- Grew up in New York City in the 1970s; witnessed high crime and fiscal distress in the city before its recovery in the mid-1980s.
- Son of Ludwig (architect) and Elizabeth (asset manager); learned about the built environment and basic economic concepts (example: competing cobblers and marginal cost pricing).
- Undergraduate at Princeton; intended to work in finance but the stock market crash of 1987 shifted him to graduate school at the University of Chicago.
- Mentored by Chicago figures including Gary Becker; influenced by endogenous growth theory (Robert Lucas, Paul Romer) and the concept of knowledge spillovers.
- Age cited in the profile: 52.
- Family: married to Nancy; they have three children.

### Core research contributions and findings
- Early work established the benefits of agglomeration: dense, diverse cities foster innovation, creativity, and economic growth.
- Seminal 1992 paper “Growth in Cities”:
  - Used 30 years of data covering 170 US cities.
  - Key finding: local competition and diversity, rather than specialization, are the prime motors of urban growth.
- Research on urban decline and housing:
  - Observed that housing durability means slumping cities become cheaper to live in, explaining slow decline and persistence of population.
  - Identified land-use restrictions and regulation as primary drivers of housing prices above construction costs in cities like New York and Boston.
- 2000 paper “Consumer City” (with Jed Kolko and Albert Saiz):
  - Argued people are drawn to cities for both economic opportunities and amenities (theaters, museums, restaurants).
- Research topics have ranged across rent control, real estate bubbles, property rights, civil disobedience, and carbon emissions.

### Views on housing, regulation, and urban policy
- Argues that excessive building and zoning regulations act as a tax on development, limiting density and making housing unaffordable.
- Acknowledges that some regulation is economically sensible because construction imposes noise, congestion, and pollution costs, but emphasizes the harms of overly stringent regulation often driven by incumbent residents.
- Skeptical of historic-preservation rules as routes to affordability; asserts affordability is created by mass-produced cheap housing or commercial space.
- Critiques policies that favor suburbanization:
  - Mortgage interest deduction.
  - Highway subsidies that facilitate driving to suburbs.
  - School systems that disadvantage inner-city students.
- Links antiurban policies to increased climate change (city dwellers consume less electricity and gasoline due to smaller homes and mass transit).

### Policy recommendations and perspectives on place-based interventions
- Historically skeptical of place-based policies; favors helping people rather than places because labor mobility was assumed to correct geographic mismatches.
- With Lawrence Summers, departs from orthodoxy for economically distressed U.S. regions:
  - Recommend tailoring proemployment measures (examples cited): reducing the payroll tax or increasing tax credits to low earners for distressed areas such as West Virginia.
  - Advocate boosting investment in education.
- Emphasizes context-specific policies: “That doesn’t mean that you want the same policies everywhere.”

### Developing-world cities and applied fieldwork
- Identifies developing-world cities as a relatively uncharted frontier for economists and a place where policy advice can make a large difference.
- Field research example: markets of Lusaka, Zambia (with Nava Ashraf and Alexia Delfino):
  - Finding: women are more likely to go into business if the rule of law is strong enough to help overcome unequal relations with men.
- Observations from Dharavi (Mumbai):
  - Notes entrepreneurial energy in dense, informal production despite unpaved streets, polluted air, and open sewers.
  - Concludes urbanization is the best path to prosperity for developing regions (India, sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America).

### Public engagement, teaching, and communication
- 2011 book Triumph of the City brought broader public attention to his work; the book covers urbanization from ancient Baghdad to modern Bangalore.
- Frequently sought as a speaker (academic forums, TED Talks); noted for crisp, rapid delivery and careful attire.
- Teaching: takes advising seriously; remembered by former students (Rebecca Diamond) for providing perspective and time.
- Collabora­tions with Lawrence Summers on regional U.S. disparities (the “eastern heartland”) and with Joseph Gyourko on housing and city decline.

### Key facts and chronology (as presented)
- 1970s: childhood context in New York City.
- mid-1980s: New York’s recovery becomes clear.
- 1987: stock market crash affected career plans.
- Age: 52 (as of profile).
- 1992: publication of “Growth in Cities.”
- 30 years of data covering 170 US cities used in that study.
- 2000: publication of “Consumer City” (with Jed Kolko and Albert Saiz).
- 2011: publication of Triumph of the City.
- Field research example location: Lusaka, Zambia.
- Case study location mentioned: Dharavi, Mumbai.

*Profile by Chris Wellisz in Finance & Development, December 2019.*

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2019/december/profile-of-harvard-economist-edward-glaeser.pdf_