Monthly Archives: May 2014

Hipster economics and the problems with gentrification

My latest for Al Jazeera English is on gentrification: Gentrifiers focus on aesthetics, not people. Because people, to them, are aesthetics. Proponents of gentrification will vouch for its benevolence by noting it “cleaned up the neighbourhood”. This is often code … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 16 Comments

The broken promise of college education

For Al Jazeera English, I bravely reread David Brooks’ 2000 scifi masterpiece, Bobos in Paradise, and extracted a few lessons for the modern era: According to Brooks, baby boomers had surmounted class and ethnic barriers through the accumulation of credentials. … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 33 Comments