Sean and Andy are joined by historian Daniel Wortel-London to discuss his recent book The Menace of Prosperity: New York City and the Struggle for Economic Development 1865-1981 out now from University of Chicago Press.
Without the taxes and jobs generated by wealthy firms and households, we are told, our communities cannot survive. But what if the costs of elite-driven growth outweighed its benefits? What if the wealthy were not the fiscal saviors of American cities, but their assassins? What if relying on the rich to “take care of everyone else” was neither politically nor financially sustainable? And what would all this mean for how our communities should develop economically?
His history is particularly timely as the Mamdani administration tries, within the bounds of political economy, to open up what Daniel calls the 'fiscal imaginary' of what is possible on a municipal level.
Song: Mobb Deep - Shook Ones Part II
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