Paul Krugman is over in Berlin, and—surprise!—concludes that Europeans have things better figured out than we benighted Americans do. The gist of his Stranded in Suburbia in today's NY Times is that dense cities like Berlin, which offer good public transportation, are the solution to the high gasoline prices we are seemingly stuck with. Krugman contrasts Berlin and Atlanta:
Greater Atlanta has roughly the same population as Greater Berlin — but Berlin is a city of trains, buses and bikes, while Atlanta is a city of cars, cars and cars.
So why don't more Americans choose to live in big cities? After citing the current lack of good public transportation and the durability of suburban housing, Krugman points his accusing liberal's finger at his fellow Americans [emphasis added]:
And there are, as always in America, the issues of race and class. Despite the gentrification that has taken place in some inner cities, and the plunge in national crime rates to levels not seen in decades, it will be hard to shake the longstanding American association of higher-density living with poverty and personal danger.
Krugman thus suggests that cities aren't really poorer or more dangerous than the suburbs. It's just something in the mind of those "race and class" obsessed Americans.
Let's test Krugman's hypothesis, focusing on Atlanta since that's the city he singled out. Digging around a bit, I found the following data:
- Atlanta poverty rate [2004]: 27.8%
- National suburban poverty rate [2005]: 9.4%
So Atlanta has about three times more poverty than suburbia.
And crime? This table includes data for the crime rate in urban Atlanta and suburban Atlanta, measured in crimes per 100,000 population.
- Atlanta (suburbs): 4,799
- Atlanta (city): 13,489
Once again, the ratio is just under 3:1.
So statistics demonstrate that Americans' perceptions of cities as poorer and more dangerous is based on reality, not racism. But like the good liberal he is, Krugman chooses to accuse his compatriots of base motives.
Dispatch from the Department of Do-as-I-Say-Not-as-I-Do
According to his bio at the Center for American progress, "Krugman and his wife live in the Princeton area with their two cats. " Even "inner-city" Princeton would be tony enough for most. But apparently that's a bit too urban for the Times columnist who lives in the Princeton "area." Sounds mighty . . . suburban.
