Greg Shill
@gregshill.com
Professor, Arizona State University Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law • Student of firms, cities & transportation (and Seinfeld) • Papers: ssrn.com/author=887547 • Newsletter: gregshill.substack.com • Co-host of Densely Speaking podcast • gregshill.com
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Greg Shill
@gregshill.com
· Aug 7
🚨 Transportation for the Abundant Society 🚨
New draft paper (w/ Jonathan Levine) now up.
"Abundance" needs to grapple with transportation beyond megaprojects and institutions beyond zoning. We propose anchoring planning metrics in *access*, not speed of travel. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
New draft paper (w/ Jonathan Levine) now up.
"Abundance" needs to grapple with transportation beyond megaprojects and institutions beyond zoning. We propose anchoring planning metrics in *access*, not speed of travel. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Should law schools worry about new loan limits ($50k/year) hitting revenue, as @brianleiter.bsky.social suggests? It depends on the law school. You'd need to know how reliant a given school is on tuition dollars from students borrowing above the median level. 1/2 leiterreports.com/2025/11/12/t...
The coming, and very consequential, change to Federal student loans for post-graduate study
We touched on this before, but CHE offers this update: According to the consensus definitions, approved Thursday after two rounds of negotiated rulemaking, a degree will be considered professional …
leiterreports.com
November 12, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Should law schools worry about new loan limits ($50k/year) hitting revenue, as @brianleiter.bsky.social suggests? It depends on the law school. You'd need to know how reliant a given school is on tuition dollars from students borrowing above the median level. 1/2 leiterreports.com/2025/11/12/t...
A tempting logical fallacy goes like this:
Goals A and B are both desirable, and achieving A *in principle* makes it easier to achieve B, ergo we should do A to achieve B.
This is an example of such a claim. Declining fertility rates are a global phenomenon.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/o...
Goals A and B are both desirable, and achieving A *in principle* makes it easier to achieve B, ergo we should do A to achieve B.
This is an example of such a claim. Declining fertility rates are a global phenomenon.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/o...
Opinion | If We Want More Kids, We Need Affordable Cities
www.nytimes.com
November 12, 2025 at 6:56 PM
A tempting logical fallacy goes like this:
Goals A and B are both desirable, and achieving A *in principle* makes it easier to achieve B, ergo we should do A to achieve B.
This is an example of such a claim. Declining fertility rates are a global phenomenon.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/o...
Goals A and B are both desirable, and achieving A *in principle* makes it easier to achieve B, ergo we should do A to achieve B.
This is an example of such a claim. Declining fertility rates are a global phenomenon.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/o...
Reposted by Greg Shill
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed 4 years ago. In new research @urbaninstitute.bsky.social we study its effects.
US transport spending increased by 30%, but:
—Funding for non-highway projects flatlined
—Construction cost increases resulted in no actual increase in infrastructure
US transport spending increased by 30%, but:
—Funding for non-highway projects flatlined
—Construction cost increases resulted in no actual increase in infrastructure
Federal Infrastructure Spending on Transportation, Four Years after the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is up for reauthorization in 2026. New analysis shows that the act increased spending on transportation infrastructure, but…
www.urban.org
November 12, 2025 at 5:32 PM
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed 4 years ago. In new research @urbaninstitute.bsky.social we study its effects.
US transport spending increased by 30%, but:
—Funding for non-highway projects flatlined
—Construction cost increases resulted in no actual increase in infrastructure
US transport spending increased by 30%, but:
—Funding for non-highway projects flatlined
—Construction cost increases resulted in no actual increase in infrastructure
Reposted by Greg Shill
One of the great tweets from blessed memory: ‘the Uk is a strange land where people think £100k is a very high salary but also £1m is a normal price for a family home’
November 11, 2025 at 7:55 AM
One of the great tweets from blessed memory: ‘the Uk is a strange land where people think £100k is a very high salary but also £1m is a normal price for a family home’
Vibes-based poast:
UK elite business media (FT, Economist) is less rah-rah on equities than US counterpart (WSJ, Bloomberg), let alone US popular business media (CNBC, BI, etc.).
My explanation: L A N D. Brits hold ~no equities (8%of wealth vs 1/3 in US). Their assets are all homes (and pensions).
UK elite business media (FT, Economist) is less rah-rah on equities than US counterpart (WSJ, Bloomberg), let alone US popular business media (CNBC, BI, etc.).
My explanation: L A N D. Brits hold ~no equities (8%of wealth vs 1/3 in US). Their assets are all homes (and pensions).
November 11, 2025 at 11:03 PM
Vibes-based poast:
UK elite business media (FT, Economist) is less rah-rah on equities than US counterpart (WSJ, Bloomberg), let alone US popular business media (CNBC, BI, etc.).
My explanation: L A N D. Brits hold ~no equities (8%of wealth vs 1/3 in US). Their assets are all homes (and pensions).
UK elite business media (FT, Economist) is less rah-rah on equities than US counterpart (WSJ, Bloomberg), let alone US popular business media (CNBC, BI, etc.).
My explanation: L A N D. Brits hold ~no equities (8%of wealth vs 1/3 in US). Their assets are all homes (and pensions).
Another Aaron Rupar tweet, another basically misleading quote. Watch for yourself. (In this clip, he's saying he can't guarantee the safety of people walking outside or driving in cars.) You don't have to make stuff up to be concerned about the state of our country.
November 11, 2025 at 10:38 PM
Another Aaron Rupar tweet, another basically misleading quote. Watch for yourself. (In this clip, he's saying he can't guarantee the safety of people walking outside or driving in cars.) You don't have to make stuff up to be concerned about the state of our country.
"[I]n recent years there has been a quiet revolution. Americans aged 70 and above now own 39% of all stocks and mutual funds (which mostly invest in equities), almost twice as much as was common from 1989 to 2009... Elderly Americans’ risk tolerance has shot up." www.economist.com/finance-and-...
Old folk are seized by stockmarket mania
Investing in equities may make sense for individuals—but it could also exacerbate a crash
www.economist.com
November 11, 2025 at 10:14 PM
"[I]n recent years there has been a quiet revolution. Americans aged 70 and above now own 39% of all stocks and mutual funds (which mostly invest in equities), almost twice as much as was common from 1989 to 2009... Elderly Americans’ risk tolerance has shot up." www.economist.com/finance-and-...
Every fall, the Chair of the AALS Section on State and Local Government Law writes a short column detailing the Section's agenda for the Annual Meeting. Thanks to the efforts of my fellow board members and our co-sponsors, we have an outstanding lineup of events and speakers. I hope to see you.
November 11, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Every fall, the Chair of the AALS Section on State and Local Government Law writes a short column detailing the Section's agenda for the Annual Meeting. Thanks to the efforts of my fellow board members and our co-sponsors, we have an outstanding lineup of events and speakers. I hope to see you.
On tradeoffs, WWII edition: “frightening the nation into blackout regulations, the Luftwaffe was able to kill 600 British citizens a month [especially pedestrians] without ever taking to the air”
These countries have reduced fatality rates in recent years, but still have much higher death tolls than other rich countries.
Read Hannah’s article on how the United Kingdom built some of the world’s safest roads: ourworldindata.org/britain-safe...
Read Hannah’s article on how the United Kingdom built some of the world’s safest roads: ourworldindata.org/britain-safe...
How Britain built some of the world’s safest roads
The death rate per mile driven has declined 22-fold since 1950.
ourworldindata.org
November 11, 2025 at 3:08 PM
On tradeoffs, WWII edition: “frightening the nation into blackout regulations, the Luftwaffe was able to kill 600 British citizens a month [especially pedestrians] without ever taking to the air”
Not the main focus, but interesting observations from former members in the story and comments. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/u...
The Sierra Club Embraced Social Justice. Then It Tore Itself Apart.
www.nytimes.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Not the main focus, but interesting observations from former members in the story and comments. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/u...
Reposted by Greg Shill
The evidence keeps accumulating that Brexit was an astonishing self-inflicted economic policy disaster. The fact that it is a slow-moving one bodes ill for those who think that populist economic mismanagement will translate into voters punishing populists. www.nber.org/system/files...
November 10, 2025 at 4:26 PM
The evidence keeps accumulating that Brexit was an astonishing self-inflicted economic policy disaster. The fact that it is a slow-moving one bodes ill for those who think that populist economic mismanagement will translate into voters punishing populists. www.nber.org/system/files...
This is great. It’s hard to know what you’re observing as an outsider without a perspective like this.
Pedestrian Observations: High-Speed Rail is not for Tourists pedestrianobservations.com/2025/11/09/h...
High-Speed Rail is not for Tourists
Foreigners to a country often get a warped idea of what its infrastructure is like. Most infrastructure is used for day-to-day domestic travel, for commuting to work or school, for visits to family…
pedestrianobservations.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:24 AM
This is great. It’s hard to know what you’re observing as an outsider without a perspective like this.
More research on remote work, here some gender impacts of RTO mandates. I’m curious if these effects, especially when combined with the shrinking immigrant labor pool, are big enough to be holding down the official unemployment rate.
www.wsj.com/economy/gend...
www.wsj.com/economy/gend...
November 9, 2025 at 9:19 PM
More research on remote work, here some gender impacts of RTO mandates. I’m curious if these effects, especially when combined with the shrinking immigrant labor pool, are big enough to be holding down the official unemployment rate.
www.wsj.com/economy/gend...
www.wsj.com/economy/gend...
I’m wary of any politician proclaiming something provided by the private market to be a positive “right not a commodity” and then not taking steps toward public provision but instead purporting to just legislate an entitlement into being. Put up the cash (or, you know, make it easier to build).
November 9, 2025 at 8:13 PM
I’m wary of any politician proclaiming something provided by the private market to be a positive “right not a commodity” and then not taking steps toward public provision but instead purporting to just legislate an entitlement into being. Put up the cash (or, you know, make it easier to build).
I generally try to avoid claims of clairvoyance, especially in areas like chemistry where I don’t know anything, but one thing I worry we’ll come to really regret is exposing generations of small children to direct physical contact with recycled tires in the form of playground surfaces.
Edward Burtynsky built a career photographing landscapes altered by human exploitation—hedgerows of disposed tires, sprawling oil refineries, pockmarked mountainsides. But he hasn’t given up on documenting the pristine, @andrewaoyama.bsky.social writes:
Wheels Up
What the photographer Edward Burtynsky found in a tire pile in Modesto, California, and on the shores of Western Australia
bit.ly
November 9, 2025 at 5:54 PM
I generally try to avoid claims of clairvoyance, especially in areas like chemistry where I don’t know anything, but one thing I worry we’ll come to really regret is exposing generations of small children to direct physical contact with recycled tires in the form of playground surfaces.
Reposted by Greg Shill
15 percent of American homes lacked indoor plumbing in 1960.
The idea that everyone in 1955 America lived in a split-level suburban home with two cars and three kids and one income is, quite simply, a fantasy borne of media consumption.
The idea that everyone in 1955 America lived in a split-level suburban home with two cars and three kids and one income is, quite simply, a fantasy borne of media consumption.
November 9, 2025 at 5:04 AM
15 percent of American homes lacked indoor plumbing in 1960.
The idea that everyone in 1955 America lived in a split-level suburban home with two cars and three kids and one income is, quite simply, a fantasy borne of media consumption.
The idea that everyone in 1955 America lived in a split-level suburban home with two cars and three kids and one income is, quite simply, a fantasy borne of media consumption.
I have mixed feelings about it on the merits, but the 50-year mortgage is probably the only thing that can boost ownership affordability in the near term.
As I have noted, supply is stuck so finance is the logical lever to pull.
As I have noted, supply is stuck so finance is the logical lever to pull.
November 9, 2025 at 3:10 AM
I have mixed feelings about it on the merits, but the 50-year mortgage is probably the only thing that can boost ownership affordability in the near term.
As I have noted, supply is stuck so finance is the logical lever to pull.
As I have noted, supply is stuck so finance is the logical lever to pull.
Reposted by Greg Shill
Cross-posting my discovery of the day. This guy could have been the Shoup of design review.
He's was a random architect working from home in Bernal Heights. Never had a faculty position.
He churned out scores of academic papers and one great book.
threadreaderapp.com/thread/19873...
He's was a random architect working from home in Bernal Heights. Never had a faculty position.
He churned out scores of academic papers and one great book.
threadreaderapp.com/thread/19873...
Thread by @CSElmendorf on Thread Reader App
@CSElmendorf: I stumbled across the work of Arthur E. Stamps III this morning and, wow, my eyes have been opened! He's was (is?) an architect in San Francisco who wrote scores of academic papers on th...
threadreaderapp.com
November 9, 2025 at 2:01 AM
Cross-posting my discovery of the day. This guy could have been the Shoup of design review.
He's was a random architect working from home in Bernal Heights. Never had a faculty position.
He churned out scores of academic papers and one great book.
threadreaderapp.com/thread/19873...
He's was a random architect working from home in Bernal Heights. Never had a faculty position.
He churned out scores of academic papers and one great book.
threadreaderapp.com/thread/19873...
A good piece. One point of disagreement: “This bond debt is part of an American tradition of leaving public-service funding to private actors,” which magnifies inequality. The logical alternative is public actors, but that’s the whole issue - at what level? 1/2
For those who care about local finance issues, and their implications, this is a good story of interest. Gift link.
American Suburbs Have a Financial Secret
Municipal bonds have become an unavoidable part of local governance—and their costs divide rich towns from poor ones.
www.theatlantic.com
November 7, 2025 at 6:29 PM
A good piece. One point of disagreement: “This bond debt is part of an American tradition of leaving public-service funding to private actors,” which magnifies inequality. The logical alternative is public actors, but that’s the whole issue - at what level? 1/2
"Employers who’ve mandated a return to the office have paid a price… S&P 500 companies had abnormally high turnover following [RTO mandates,] especially high among women, senior staff and more skilled staff." Mandates also made vacancies take longer to fill. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/07/t...
Companies have found employees can be just as productive when working remotely. And they’re happier too.
Employers are perfecting their flexible work arrangements. They’re making in-person time strategic and ensuring new employees don’t feel isolated.
www.chicagotribune.com
November 7, 2025 at 5:44 PM
"Employers who’ve mandated a return to the office have paid a price… S&P 500 companies had abnormally high turnover following [RTO mandates,] especially high among women, senior staff and more skilled staff." Mandates also made vacancies take longer to fill. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/07/t...
"For a long time, the dodge here was that the feds were picking up a large share of the cost [for the Chicago Transit Authority Red Line Extension]. That excuse was never all that compelling, but it’s also much less true now than it used to be." citythatworks.substack.com/p/we-havent-...
We haven't saved transit yet
What comes after the fiscal cliff
citythatworks.substack.com
November 7, 2025 at 4:40 PM
"For a long time, the dodge here was that the feds were picking up a large share of the cost [for the Chicago Transit Authority Red Line Extension]. That excuse was never all that compelling, but it’s also much less true now than it used to be." citythatworks.substack.com/p/we-havent-...
Good overview of the annual shareholder meeting today at Tesla, where investors are being asked to approve a pay package of up to $1T for you know who.
(I am quoted, as is my sharp colleague @annmlipton.bsky.social.)
www.theverge.com/transportati...
(I am quoted, as is my sharp colleague @annmlipton.bsky.social.)
www.theverge.com/transportati...
Will Tesla shareholders vote to make Elon Musk the first trillionaire?
It’s not the outcome, it’s the margin.
www.theverge.com
November 6, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Good overview of the annual shareholder meeting today at Tesla, where investors are being asked to approve a pay package of up to $1T for you know who.
(I am quoted, as is my sharp colleague @annmlipton.bsky.social.)
www.theverge.com/transportati...
(I am quoted, as is my sharp colleague @annmlipton.bsky.social.)
www.theverge.com/transportati...
🚨 New newsletter post, the second of two on transportation policy and aging. open.substack.com/pub/gregshil...
Transportation Policy for the Golden Years
Some thoughts on adapting transportation and land use with the goal of increasing both years of life and life in years.
open.substack.com
November 5, 2025 at 7:18 PM
🚨 New newsletter post, the second of two on transportation policy and aging. open.substack.com/pub/gregshil...
Reposted by Greg Shill
Over the past year there were more homebuyers over the age of 75 than between the ages of 25-34: www.nar.realtor/research-and...
November 4, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Over the past year there were more homebuyers over the age of 75 than between the ages of 25-34: www.nar.realtor/research-and...
Reposted by Greg Shill
Andrew Kent and I have a blog post on Quorum Call, the blog of the Harvard Law School Journal of Legislation, about the tariffs case being argued tomorrow. You can find it here: journals.law.harvard.edu/jol/2025/11/...
Does the President Have Power to Impose Tariffs Using Peacetime Economic Sanctions Legislation? – Harvard Journal on Legislation
journals.law.harvard.edu
November 4, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Andrew Kent and I have a blog post on Quorum Call, the blog of the Harvard Law School Journal of Legislation, about the tariffs case being argued tomorrow. You can find it here: journals.law.harvard.edu/jol/2025/11/...