Please identify yourself, name, rank serial number, whatever version of rank and serial number

you wish to convey.

I'm Ed Glazer, the Fred Nell and a glimp Professor of Economics at Harvard, where I also direct

the Talman Center for State and Local Government in the Rappport Institute for Greater Boston.

Okay, you've said that a few times before.

The short version is that Ed Glazer is an economist at Harvard, and he studies a number of interesting

things, but his obsession seems to be with the city.

In fact, we did another podcast with him a couple years ago called Why Cities Rock.

Glazer looks at cities from a number of angles.

How they deal with housing booms and busts, how they incubate ideas and wealth, how much

cities pollute compared to suburban and rural areas.

Glazer argues that cities are, in fact, very green.

Apparently because if you live in a city, you share so many resources with so many other

people.

So, Ed Glazer is what you might call an urban environmentalist.

It is not, as you can imagine, an overcrowded field, so I was interested to see a new paper

that Glazer wrote called The Supply of Environmentalism.

What does he mean by that?

The conversation starts here.

I actually do believe that almost all environmentalists are motivated by relatively benign forces,

and they're trying to do good for the world.

And I do not think on net that environmentalism isn't a good force.

...