Government: Country vs City Needs

Urban proximity has plenty of benefits, like easing the movement of goods, people and ideas, but closeness also has its costs. If two people are close enough to talk, then they are close enough to share a virus. If people are near enough to sell you a knish, they are near enough to rob you.

I’m a big fan of the free market, and I see lots to like in liberty. But the downsides of proximity, be they cholera or crime, have never been solved with laissez-faire. Costly, often intrusive public action has often been needed to manage the negative externalities associated with urban density.

In a sense, the gulf between the political attitudes of New York City and Montana can be understood as a reflection of the fact that city dwellers need government a lot more than ranchers do.

For more, see The Health of the Cities by Edward L. Glaeser, June 22, 2010, at nytimes.com.