Eager to read this. www.nber.org/papers/w34298

This is something a privately run transit system would naturally avoid, because it would regard costs that do not increase revenues as something to be minimized. For a public agency, sad to say, they are a justification for a higher budget next year.

Many people are saying that the roads are too damn wide.

Possibly relevant to those conversations: Disney stock over the past five days compared with its S&P500 sector. Not a great trend if you think the response was going to build from here.

tired: shareholder WEALTH maximization wired: shareholder wealth MAXIMIZATION inspired: SHAREHOLDER wealth maximization

I like a lot of these projects. But: 1) They cost too much. Figuring out how to bring costs down was already imperative once pandemic aid ran out. 2) Create local sources of recurring revenue—namely, build, baby, build. Not impact fees, just vanilla property tax. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Update: The Consumer Expenditure Survey is being delayed ~5 weeks, with no impact on the CPI weights, and for good technical reasons.

I, too, am investing $100 billion in chips and/or AI.

"It’s hard to stay independent as an older adult in the U.S., especially if you reach very old age." Yes, and lack of transportation options is a large part of this issue that affects well-being of older adults. Also see, 'Climate Resilience for an Aging Nation' and 'When Driving is Not an Option'.

New newsletter post on the interplay between aging (quantity of years), thriving in old age (quality), and transportation law and policy: open.substack.com/pub/gregshil...

Come be my colleague! www.thefacultylounge.org/2025/09/asu-...

I have mixed feelings about alleys (they gobble up land for underused right of way) but they do solve this: Put the garage behind the rowhouse. (Then put a granny flat above the garage, but I digress.) Cities can have not only more housing, but more living space.

The bad news is that this is infeasible in the US for multiple reasons. The good news is that fare compliance, at least for controlled environments like metro stations, can be improved via capital investment rather than the ongoing operating expense that this requires.

Two new newsletter posts coming up. Subscribe here (free): open.substack.com/pub/gregshil...

This problem is fundamental to our system, so it’s worth thinking about solutions that sidestep it rather than hoping for enlightened self-interest at the state or national level. Plug for an article I wrote fleshing this out, applying the lessons congestion pricing: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

The demise of physical media. Our current paradigm maximizes convenience on a day to day basis, but at the cost of both permanence and a lot of individually and socially beneficial incidental experiences.

This complaint alleges very serious ERISA violations by a major law firm. The claim is that they diverted employee retirement contributions for “months at a time,” essentially using them as an interest-free way to fund the firm’s operating expenses. abovethelaw.com/2025/09/bigl...

High speed rail is uncompetitive against dudes going 150 mph+ on motorcycles who split lanes on the highway.

“cake trolley” is an area where British innovation vastly outstrips the US. I don’t think even Nvidia has them.

✨ Abundance and Transportation ✨ If you've sent me feedback on the "Transportation for the Abundant Society" manuscript (w/ Jonathan Levine)—thank you! We are turning to revisions soon. If you're interested in reading—feedback most welcome! Here it is: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... Thank you!

Check out our conversation on Densely Speaking with Zach about this research from earlier this year. @gregshill.com open.spotify.com/episode/6HcN...

Whatever its outcome, Starbucks’ turnaround strategy will end up in business school case studies for its idiosyncratic choice of hinging the company’s future on writing an increasing amount of stuff by hand on cups.

Chart from September SWAA (Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes) update showing variation in work location by educational attainment. Half of workers with college degrees and 56% with grad degrees work fully WFH or hybrid. SWAA data series is now on FRED: fred.stlouisfed.org/categories/3...

Tall-ish building ✅ Over half a century old ✅ Prompted local ban on other tall buildings ✅

Stolen from Facebook. I am fond of saying that every small city has its one tall-ish building (20 or 30 stories), usually from over half a century ago, that caused the local notables to coalesce around banning more city.

The transit fiscal cliff is here. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/04/f...

Texas Law has a new academic fellowship program. Please share with any aspiring legal academics! (The first fellow started this summer and I can say the level of mentorship, support, and inclusion of fellows is exceptional)

What if, instead of doing transit operations and finance reform, we simply made it illegal to raise fares or reduce service?

Why are these giant, comfortable, powerful cars that last 15 years so expensive?

You can block a merger (as DOJ did in January 2024), but you can’t will a weak target into a going concern.

'Primus becomes the first member of the STB, or its predecessor, the Interstate Commerce Commission, to be dismissed. The ICC was created in 1887.' www.trains.com/pro/regulato...

Happy to see this post by @lizdunshee.bsky.social exploring what Intel's newest big shareholder (the US government) means for securities regulation. www.thecorporatecounsel.net/blog/2025/08...

If Intel becomes the playbook, someone should create an ETF for these companies. Whether the strategy should be long or short is an exercise left to the fund manager.

1985-86 was the true Golden Age of Television: A-Team Airwolf Alf Knight Rider MacGyver

I guess this is a contrarian take, but it seems obvious that this trend reflects fundamentals—not only higher prices and rates, but also the increase in the expected lifespan and holding period of the asset. Back when cars depreciated quickly, shorter terms made more sense.

From Stuck! by @yappelbaum.bsky.social, some great history on U.S. building codes and Lawrence Veiller's work on tenement laws:

Niche content here, but I'm going to become a locally famous rockhound in Petoskey in my retirement.

First week of class at ASU Law in the books! So great meeting new Contracts students and colleagues. In lieu of a hairy hand, sharing pix from main campus and inside a Waymo.

I wrote an unusually strongly worded thing about the transit crisis in Pennsylvania, which is coming soon to Oregon and Illinois. humantransit.org/2025/08/the-...

My “I’m not a 10% shareholder” shirt is raising a lot of questions

Don’t tell me security deposits can’t be securitized. It’s right there in the name!

🚨 Law profs: announcing the State and Local Government Law panel at AALS Annual Meeting 2026: "Crisis and Capacity: State and Local Government Law in a Time of Constraint" As chair, and on behalf of the executive committee, I'm pleased to attach our CFP. Submit by 9/17. I'm happy to answer any Qs.

Is there a standard measure of age-adjusted GDP growth? I’d be curious how much the shape of the age distribution influences growth in the US vs., say, France or the UK. GDP per working age person would be great. (GDP per hour worked is available but it’s indirect.)

Spotted: brooding omnipresence in the sky.

Getting deep into “with American characteristics” territory

If you aren't a public transit geek I despair of convincing you how important this chart is. Slow buses cut people off from opportunity. Stop respacing is controversial (everything is controversial) and yet the savings and benefits are huge. (We can help.)

The US deficit in July 2025 was up 10% vs. July ‘24, including tariffs. OBBBA mostly takes effect in ‘26 & will cut revenue further. I expect I’m more sympathetic to ratings agencies than was the average enjoyer of INSIDE JOB (Matt Damon, 2010), but hard to square this w/ the actual fiscal picture.

This really seems correct x.com/ad_mastro/st...

Well everyone, we now just got clearance on some more lines so we're doing open rank searches for 1. business/corporate law, 2. commercial law, and 3. torts! Please share this with anyone you think might be interested!