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....
Bring back the silver oar!
ALL HANDS ON DECK. The Fifth Circuit has issued another maritime pun.
November 25, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Bring back the silver oar!
Reposted by Greg Shill
tax bill of this vacant lot in downtown Chicago
2023: $292,593.15
2024: $70,386.00
change: $222,207.15 decrease is a 76% drop
the property owner lost every recent appeal at the Board of Review (the last one was 2020) so this is likely because property values have dropped a lot
2023: $292,593.15
2024: $70,386.00
change: $222,207.15 decrease is a 76% drop
the property owner lost every recent appeal at the Board of Review (the last one was 2020) so this is likely because property values have dropped a lot
November 25, 2025 at 8:20 PM
tax bill of this vacant lot in downtown Chicago
2023: $292,593.15
2024: $70,386.00
change: $222,207.15 decrease is a 76% drop
the property owner lost every recent appeal at the Board of Review (the last one was 2020) so this is likely because property values have dropped a lot
2023: $292,593.15
2024: $70,386.00
change: $222,207.15 decrease is a 76% drop
the property owner lost every recent appeal at the Board of Review (the last one was 2020) so this is likely because property values have dropped a lot
As everyday advice, “listen to mom”—take care of yourself, get enough sleep—continues to be undefeated.
University students who were provided with a free gym card (in a randomized experiment) exercised more and had a significant improvement in academic performance. The treated students were also less likely to drop out of classes
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10....
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10....
University of Chicago Press Journals: Cookie absent
www.journals.uchicago.edu
November 24, 2025 at 9:52 PM
As everyday advice, “listen to mom”—take care of yourself, get enough sleep—continues to be undefeated.
Love this.
Walter Payton uses a paper transfer to ride public transit on the 1979 RTA commercial.
November 24, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Love this.
Menswear Guy on an algorithm that increases the trade deficit.
Twitter pays people based on engagement (views, retweets, comments, etc). It appears that many MAGA accounts are based abroad and they use AI technology to generate low-effort rage bait.
My guess is that this will get worse as AI tech improves. For instance, fake videos of minorities doing crime.
My guess is that this will get worse as AI tech improves. For instance, fake videos of minorities doing crime.
November 23, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Menswear Guy on an algorithm that increases the trade deficit.
Each week, a game of “what basic foodstuff can’t I get at the grocery store now because the president had a fresh tantrum.”
This week, pasta.
This week, pasta.
November 21, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Each week, a game of “what basic foodstuff can’t I get at the grocery store now because the president had a fresh tantrum.”
This week, pasta.
This week, pasta.
Very cool project:
“The Roman Empire’s road system was critical for structuring the movement of people, goods & ideas [yet] remains incompletely mapped… We present Itiner-e, the most detailed and comprehensive open digital dataset of roads in the entire Roman Empire.”
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
“The Roman Empire’s road system was critical for structuring the movement of people, goods & ideas [yet] remains incompletely mapped… We present Itiner-e, the most detailed and comprehensive open digital dataset of roads in the entire Roman Empire.”
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Itiner-e: A high-resolution dataset of roads of the Roman Empire - Scientific Data
Scientific Data - Itiner-e: A high-resolution dataset of roads of the Roman Empire
www.nature.com
November 21, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Very cool project:
“The Roman Empire’s road system was critical for structuring the movement of people, goods & ideas [yet] remains incompletely mapped… We present Itiner-e, the most detailed and comprehensive open digital dataset of roads in the entire Roman Empire.”
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
“The Roman Empire’s road system was critical for structuring the movement of people, goods & ideas [yet] remains incompletely mapped… We present Itiner-e, the most detailed and comprehensive open digital dataset of roads in the entire Roman Empire.”
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Orwell said it better.
November 19, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Orwell said it better.
Reposted by Greg Shill
There's discourse about remedial math at UCSD and I will reiterate that in education, it is expensive to have and enforce standards while it is very cheap to have no standards. There are orders of magnitude more work involved to give a student a D than to give that person an A.
November 19, 2025 at 5:59 PM
There's discourse about remedial math at UCSD and I will reiterate that in education, it is expensive to have and enforce standards while it is very cheap to have no standards. There are orders of magnitude more work involved to give a student a D than to give that person an A.
This looks amazing. Grateful as always for libraries (where I just requested a copy via interlibrary loan).
The City and the Railway in the World, is the first book to give us a good English description of Japanese Private railway development in English since Cervero's classic. I recommend it.
www.routledge.com/The-City-and...
www.routledge.com/The-City-and...
The City and the Railway in the World from the Nineteenth Century to the Present
This volume explores the relationship between cities and railways over three centuries. Despite their nearly 200-year existence, The City and the Railway in the World shows that urban railways are sti...
www.routledge.com
November 19, 2025 at 5:58 PM
This looks amazing. Grateful as always for libraries (where I just requested a copy via interlibrary loan).
A post I wrote a few months ago on what it means for urban policy that housing is largely homothetic (inspired by an @arpitrage.bsky.social tweet, which became the Substack preview of the post): gregshill.substack.com/p/mistaking-...
November 19, 2025 at 5:43 PM
A post I wrote a few months ago on what it means for urban policy that housing is largely homothetic (inspired by an @arpitrage.bsky.social tweet, which became the Substack preview of the post): gregshill.substack.com/p/mistaking-...
Free buses can make a lot of sense in areas where system revenue isn’t especially fare sensitive but riders are.
"The transit system is one of the greatest tools communities have to combat climate change and reduce emissions. “You can make a pretty immediate impact.” www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/c...
Iowa City Made Its Buses Free. Traffic Cleared, and So Did the Air.
www.nytimes.com
November 19, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Free buses can make a lot of sense in areas where system revenue isn’t especially fare sensitive but riders are.
Getting a lot of questions about my “principled leftism” armband already answered by my armband
Jimmy Dore supports Candace Owens saying America is a "Zionist Occupied Government" and "ZOG".
Jimmy Dore: "You know why? Because our government is occupied by Zionists. That's not antisemitic. That's anti-Zionist. Those are two totally different things."
Jimmy Dore: "You know why? Because our government is occupied by Zionists. That's not antisemitic. That's anti-Zionist. Those are two totally different things."
November 19, 2025 at 5:12 AM
Getting a lot of questions about my “principled leftism” armband already answered by my armband
Not going to link to the threads—it's a common take, and I'm not interested in singling out any one person voicing it—but:
Why do folks who follow tech keep assuming that Google is cannibalizing its search revenue with Gemini?
Alphabet keeps reporting that search revenue keeps climbing:
Why do folks who follow tech keep assuming that Google is cannibalizing its search revenue with Gemini?
Alphabet keeps reporting that search revenue keeps climbing:
November 18, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Not going to link to the threads—it's a common take, and I'm not interested in singling out any one person voicing it—but:
Why do folks who follow tech keep assuming that Google is cannibalizing its search revenue with Gemini?
Alphabet keeps reporting that search revenue keeps climbing:
Why do folks who follow tech keep assuming that Google is cannibalizing its search revenue with Gemini?
Alphabet keeps reporting that search revenue keeps climbing:
I'm not sure I can justify allocating time to 14a-8 in my business associations class. I've always gone deep, eg, assigning corp fin memos SLB I, L & M. But even before this latest change, proposals just didn't seem to earn their place among shareholder tools. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/news...
The SEC Opposes Shareholder Proposals
Also the Fannie/Freddie trade, the least rational investors, meme-stock numbers and Birkin warehouse receipts.
www.bloomberg.com
November 18, 2025 at 8:39 PM
I'm not sure I can justify allocating time to 14a-8 in my business associations class. I've always gone deep, eg, assigning corp fin memos SLB I, L & M. But even before this latest change, proposals just didn't seem to earn their place among shareholder tools. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/news...
The CHI mayor's guide to taxes
Step 1: promise no further residential property tax hikes (the recent hike was precipitated by the drop in commercial values due to WFH)
Step 2: impose a head tax on the companies that rent the highest-value commercial property (lowering values further)
Step 3: ?
Step 1: promise no further residential property tax hikes (the recent hike was precipitated by the drop in commercial values due to WFH)
Step 2: impose a head tax on the companies that rent the highest-value commercial property (lowering values further)
Step 3: ?
November 18, 2025 at 5:45 PM
The CHI mayor's guide to taxes
Step 1: promise no further residential property tax hikes (the recent hike was precipitated by the drop in commercial values due to WFH)
Step 2: impose a head tax on the companies that rent the highest-value commercial property (lowering values further)
Step 3: ?
Step 1: promise no further residential property tax hikes (the recent hike was precipitated by the drop in commercial values due to WFH)
Step 2: impose a head tax on the companies that rent the highest-value commercial property (lowering values further)
Step 3: ?
Reposted by Greg Shill
"You can't understand a city without using its public transportation system"
November 18, 2025 at 1:32 AM
"You can't understand a city without using its public transportation system"
Bring a Trailer, but for houses
Zillow should have a comment section imho
November 17, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Bring a Trailer, but for houses
The NYT ran a WSJ-style article, a story told by the comments section. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/16/b...
They Rushed to Buy Homes During the Pandemic. Now, Some Feel Trapped.
www.nytimes.com
November 16, 2025 at 11:20 PM
The NYT ran a WSJ-style article, a story told by the comments section. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/16/b...
The thing about state and local government pension reform (boring, unpopular) is that it can enable lots of stuff that’s interesting and popular.
The People Want to Read: on the massive budget cuts proposed for Chicago Public Library. What's at stake and what you can do, whether or not you live in Chicago.
buttondown.com/wellsourced/...
buttondown.com/wellsourced/...
The People Want To Read: On Massive Budget Cuts Proposed in Chicago
If passed, Chicago Public Library will lose half their budget for acquiring new books and materials.
buttondown.com
November 16, 2025 at 4:51 AM
The thing about state and local government pension reform (boring, unpopular) is that it can enable lots of stuff that’s interesting and popular.
Persuasion is ultimately what’s needed for federal policy reform, and that takes time. While we work on that, I’m especially interested in the projects that require as little of it as possible to achieve the most results. Things like: seatbelt campaigns, private development of transit + land.
Suffice it to say, this proposal would be the opposite of what is needed for US transportation policy.
Federal transportation spending has been ineffective, inefficient, and bad for the environment. The Trump proposal would worsen those problems.
US needs a complete rethink of transport policies ⬇️
Federal transportation spending has been ineffective, inefficient, and bad for the environment. The Trump proposal would worsen those problems.
US needs a complete rethink of transport policies ⬇️
The Reauthorization of Federal Transportation Programs Offers Policymakers an Opportunity to Improve Effectiveness, Environmental Sustainability, and Access
Federal policymakers should consider three strategies to guide deliberations around reauthorization and improvement of Americans’ quality of life.
www.urban.org
November 15, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Persuasion is ultimately what’s needed for federal policy reform, and that takes time. While we work on that, I’m especially interested in the projects that require as little of it as possible to achieve the most results. Things like: seatbelt campaigns, private development of transit + land.
“I like your mug,” I said to the Dean who hired me for my first tenure-track job. It had a witty pun on it.
“Oh thank you,” she said. After a pause, she added, “the students gave it to me, but I’m not allowed to receive gifts, so it belongs to the law school.” A $10 mug.
“Oh thank you,” she said. After a pause, she added, “the students gave it to me, but I’m not allowed to receive gifts, so it belongs to the law school.” A $10 mug.
"It was tough to beat Apple, but the Swiss did it." said one administration official.
How the Swiss convinced Trump to drop tariffs with gifts of a Rolex desk clock and a 1 kg gold bar.
www.axios.com/2025/11/14/t...
How the Swiss convinced Trump to drop tariffs with gifts of a Rolex desk clock and a 1 kg gold bar.
www.axios.com/2025/11/14/t...
How to lobby Trump with Swiss precision: gifts, gold and gab
How the Swiss broke a diplomatic logjam on tariffs by arriving with tributes fit for a king.
www.axios.com
November 15, 2025 at 3:44 PM
“I like your mug,” I said to the Dean who hired me for my first tenure-track job. It had a witty pun on it.
“Oh thank you,” she said. After a pause, she added, “the students gave it to me, but I’m not allowed to receive gifts, so it belongs to the law school.” A $10 mug.
“Oh thank you,” she said. After a pause, she added, “the students gave it to me, but I’m not allowed to receive gifts, so it belongs to the law school.” A $10 mug.
I caution students about the false sense of confidence AI—with its friendly affect & definitive style—can create in non-experts.
Today, I had a conversation with ChatGPT about a car issue. It displayed the same expertise. Then I called the mechanic and he patiently explained to me why it was wrong.
Today, I had a conversation with ChatGPT about a car issue. It displayed the same expertise. Then I called the mechanic and he patiently explained to me why it was wrong.
November 15, 2025 at 2:39 AM
I caution students about the false sense of confidence AI—with its friendly affect & definitive style—can create in non-experts.
Today, I had a conversation with ChatGPT about a car issue. It displayed the same expertise. Then I called the mechanic and he patiently explained to me why it was wrong.
Today, I had a conversation with ChatGPT about a car issue. It displayed the same expertise. Then I called the mechanic and he patiently explained to me why it was wrong.
Reposted by Greg Shill
I see people saying this but it's basically trying to build your way out of social change. Once 2 income households are the norm this is going to be factored into land prices. This is not going to be a market outcome even if you wildly expand the boundaries of what you're prepared to call "Chatham"
100% this. FWIW I think a single earner on minimum wage should be able to buy a cheap terraced house in Chatham, as was the case when I was a kid, growing up there, in that sort of family. Build more f***ing houses! More power to @stephenkb.bsky.social
Anyway: both the state and private developers need to build at far greater rates, the default aim should be 'a dual earner couple on average incomes can live in non-crowded conditions and raise a family', and the model family *for policymakers* should be three for obvious reasons.
November 13, 2025 at 10:31 PM
I see people saying this but it's basically trying to build your way out of social change. Once 2 income households are the norm this is going to be factored into land prices. This is not going to be a market outcome even if you wildly expand the boundaries of what you're prepared to call "Chatham"