Matthew Yglesias
Author of One Billion Americans: The Case for Thinking Bigger
About the Author
Image credit: flickr user myglesias
Works by Matthew Yglesias
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1981-05-18
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Places of residence
- Washington, D.C., USA
- Education
- Harvard University
- Relationships
- Yglesias, José (grandfather)
Yglesias, Helen (grandmother)
Yglesias, Rafael (grandfather) - Organizations
- The Atlantic Monthly
ThinkProgress
Slate
Members
Reviews
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Statistics
- Works
- 3
- Members
- 208
- Popularity
- #106,482
- Rating
- 3.7
- Reviews
- 9
- ISBNs
- 7
- Favorited
- 1
One thing that is a recurrent theme in the book is that it is quite obvious the author has never actually been to China. I went mainly to Shanghai and Nanjing around 2 years ago and the country is very, very different from most of the US. I have never been to NYC, but Philly has around 2/3 of the population density of NYC and still felt reasonably empty in the pedestrian friendly downtown area. Curiously Santiago de Chile has 3 times Philly's population density but I didn't feel it to be so crammed outside of riding the subway at rush hour. Hip neighborhoods like Baquedano do fill up on Fridays but it isn't like... that full all day. If you walk in that area at 9 am on a weekday, chances are there will only be another 5 people you will see.
Guadalajara Mexico has twice the density of NYC and even their downtown doesn't cram up with people fighting for 1 centimeter of living space. Mexico City is apparently similarly congested as GDL, and chances are the stats is skewed because they might be counting the semi rural villages of Tlalpan and the expansive unpopulated marshes of Texcoco which will skew the results. If you remove those areas and focus on the 6 million people living in the densely packed suburbs of Ecatepec, Chimalhuacan, Nezahualcoyotl, Naucalpan, Tlalnepantla, and Atizapan, Mexico City's density will likely be closer to 35,000 people per square mile instead of around 28,000 vs NYCs approx 27,000. And yes, Mexico City is packed, go ride the subway or try to hitch a spot in the Metrobus on a weekday at 7:30 am and people are literally everywhere!
Shanghai's downtown area is 17 million and yes, downtown areas with malls are so infested with people everywhere it is literally dizzying. You can barely even enjoy yourself being flooded with so many people. But even then, pick a nice afternoon stroll near the Bund and you might only spot 2 or 3 people walking around. The city can get epicly crowded, but it isn't like it is jam packed like a rock concert 24/7 either.
And after this brief detour, I return to my statement the author writes wonders about tripling the US population without showing much proof he has actually lived in one of the world's top 50 most densely inhabited megacities. I seriously doubt he would believe overpopulation has made cities like Lagos or Kinshasa the top of everyone's bucket list.
So, how does cities like Mexico City, Tokyo and Shanghai pack so many people? Most people lived crammed up in teeny tiny condos arguably just 1/5 of the size of the condo Rachel inhabits in the Friends show. Japanese people make every centimeter count and the living room is also the kitchen and bedroom. Families of 4 might live crammed up like this and feel it is perfectly normal. I bet most urban Chinese tourists feel shocked when they visit their first mega McMansion in suburban Texas with 6 bedrooms 8 bathrooms and 4 garages and still a family of 4 Americans may complain they feel crammed.
This is one thing the book never talks about. Americans (in particular baby boomers) are pack rats and grow strong attachments to objects and never throw them away. Japanese people on the contrary have the peculiar habit of throwing away perfectly good electronics just because they are mildly outdated. With a country that posesses a massive recycling system and a society where people separate their trash with meticulous precision, they may enjoy a similar living standard as Americans but are fine with less. Furthermore, SUVs are just not well, needed in asian megacities. You don't need to buy a car to live in Tokyo because the subway service is so good and Chinese urban families simply buy a little scooter to supplement the subway. Americans are just too used to having everything big, super size me mega meals and too much. To triple the population, Americans would have to get rid of these perks they like so much and also cities have to be torn apart and everything crammed together. It is perfectly normal for a 5 floor building in Tokyo to have 1 floor for a restaurant or store plus 6 basement underground levels for even more restaurants and stores. I always felt it strange to visit basement restaurants but it is the social norm to save space.
To make this population growth feasible, 2 out of every 3 Americans would have to get into a trade which pay quite well or be content with a GED. Too many people are getting college degrees with massive debt for jobs that don't need the degree. The US would also have to become very protectionist and bring manufacturing back and make trade taxes so high that it would be simply easier to open things domestically. The book doesn't really delve into this. It also doesn't mention tort reform would have to become the norm. People would no longer be able to sue everyone because of a menial reason. For example, those Chinese that died from a crushed poorly built building in Sichuan will definitely not bother to sue the builders. While lawyer fears are some reasons why the US has cleaner air and higher safety standards for healthcare procedures, the burden of costs fall somewhere and tripling the population won't make it go away. Excessive regulation is also a reason why childcare is unaffordable in the US.
The book doesn't have typos and despite how preposterous the concept of 1 billion Americans is to me, the author's reasoning is an amusing enough read even if I disagree with it. I do take stars off the review mostly because I felt the book could have been better organized with less rambling and more defined concepts in more chapters.… (more)