Economics

Why Seattle Needs Inclusionary Zoning, Explained By The Bid-Rent Curve

“Barriers to spatial mobility are barriers to social mobility.” - American Apartheid Every morning Sandy McKay gets in her Volvo hatchback and joins the flow...

The Price of Market Freedom

I’ve found that many people conflate supply and demand, or price-based resource allocation, with the pseudo-ideal of a libertarian “free market”. Supply and demand is...

Sunday Video: How Fracking Became America’s Money Pit

https://youtu.be/jFWHxZpF9rc It turns out that fracking is not as lucrative as it was once thought, Bloomberg Quicktake explains.
The domed Olympia Capitol Building stands in the distance with a bus stop with a passenger waiting in the foreground. A dogwalker also mosey on the lawn.

Op-Ed: Don’t Believe Corporate Elite Claiming to Fight for ‘Affordable Washington’

A corporate front group is pushing ads seeking to sap support for taxing the rich as the state faces a budget crisis. John Burbank points out the ads are misleading and argues the state must raise new revenue to avoid draconian cuts that will hit the working class hard.
A vertical farm proposed in Seoul seeks to bring fresh organic food closer to consumers. (Courtesy of Zoubeir Azouz Architecture)

An Urbanist Case for Vertical Farming

Today, common agricultural practices come with significant environmental costs. The sector depletes fresh water supplies, occupies large swathes of land, and emits major greenhouse...
A map of Washington State with a map of the country of Switzerland overlaid on top of it.

Workers Need Homes, So Why Isn’t Our Zoning Keeping Up With Job Growth?

When Bellevue boasted they would eat Seattle’s lunch last month, I am not sure they realized the housing crisis was on the full course...

Will Linkage Fees Keep Properties Off The Market?

In my last article on linkage fees I made the case that the typical supply and demand dynamics we are familiar with from buying gasoline...
A bicycle delivery worker with a red bag.

Corporations Push Back As Details Emerge on Seattle’s Pay Up Legislation for App-Based Workers

Yesterday battle lines emerged around Pay Up, the proposed suite of legislation aimed at ensuring Seattle's growing number of app-based contract workers earn at...