NYC’s got a communist running for Mayor and there’s a good chance he’ll be elected. I don’t care about NYC residents’ problems — they’ve brought them on themselves — but this editorial from genuwine, real-live college perfessers and economic experts did catch my eye. We can’t move students off campuses and into trade schools fast enough.
Leading economists endorse Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral plan to freeze rents, expand free buses, and launch public grocery stores.
“Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral platform is a practical blueprint to tackle some of New York City’s most pressing problems.”
[You’ll be disappointed — or not — that these mouthbreathers don’t foresee any adverse effects from this “blueprint” nor do they mention how all this trough feeding will be paid for, but they never do, do they?]
We write, as economists from across the world, to support Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral platform as a bold yet practical blueprint to tackle some of New York City’s most urgent challenges—above all, the cost of living. His platform proposes targeted, responsible interventions that would immediately improve millions of lives while building a fairer and prosperous New York.
At the heart of Mamdani’s platform is his plan for a rent freeze, offering urgent relief to over 2 million tenants in rent-stabilized apartments facing inflationary shocks and displacement. As economists, we recognize that unchecked rent spikes destabilize neighborhoods, increase homelessness—a far costlier public burden—and drain local economies. A rent freeze, together with long-term commitments to building at least 200,000 additional rent-stabilized and public units, is commonsense policy that pairs immediate relief with structural problem-solving.
Mamdani’s prioritization of free buses builds on the success already demonstrated by the fare-free bus pilot program on five lines in each borough of New York City. Eliminating fares was shown to increase bus ridership by more than 30 percent, markedly reduce violence against bus drivers, and provide real economic relief for low-income New Yorkers. The data from the pilot confirm that the fare-free bus model works and Mamdani’s proposal to expand it citywide makes clear fiscal sense.
His platform’s commitment to universal no-cost childcare is both an imperative for gender equity and an economic necessity. Exorbitant prices of childcare prices out parents, especially women, from the workforce, stifling productivity, and driving families out of the city. By lifting the crushing financial burden on families, Mamdani’s plan would create quality jobs in the care economy and generate a multiplier effect to benefit the entire city. Study after study demonstrates that public investment in childcare yields some of the highest returns of any social spending.
To combat skyrocketing food prices, Mamdani proposes city-owned grocery stores—a “public option,” utilizing economies of scale to supply healthy food at affordable rates. These municipal grocers would sell staples at wholesale prices, leveraging public purchasing power and economies of scale, eliminate food deserts, and provide New Yorkers immediate relief from price gouging. The economic data is clear: When the public sector steps in to correct market failures in the provision of essential goods, consumers benefit.
Taken together, Mamdani’s responsibly costed economic policies form a coherent agenda that rejects austerity and embraces the city’s power to make life more affordable for New Yorkers. While any ambitious policy agenda requires careful planning in its implementation, we encourage policymakers and voters to evaluate these proposals, which stand up to rigorous scrutiny, on their economic merits. We support Mamdani’s bold vision for a more affordable New York.
Signed,
Isabella Weber, Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
James K. Galbraith, Professor of Economics, University of Texas at Austin [No surprise, he’s the spawn of John Kenneth Galbraith; Harvard and Yale degrees, of course]
Ha-Joon Chang, Professor of Economics, SOAS University of London
Jayati Ghosh, Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
José Gabriel Palma, Emeritus Senior Lecturer, University of Cambridge; Professor of Economics, University of Santiago
Daniela Gabor, Professor of Economics, SOAS University of London
Jostein Hauge, Assistant Professor, Centre of Development Studies, University of Cambridge
Stephen Nuñez
J. W. Mason, Associate Professor of Economics, John Jay College, City University of New York
Nikolaos Chatzarakis, Assistant Professor of Economics, The New School for Social Research
Lenore M. Palladino, Associate Professor of Economics & Public Policy, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Justin Bloesch, Assistant Professor, School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University
Mark Paul, Associate Professor of Economics, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University
Emily Eisner, Chief Economist, Fiscal Policy Institute
Carolina Alves, Associate Professor of Economics, Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP), University College London
Yanis Varoufakis, Former Minister of Finance, Greece
Clara Mattei, Professor of Economics, The University of Tulsa Oklahoma
Mona Ali, Associate Professor of Economics, State University of New York (SUNY)
Leila E Davis, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts Boston
Michael Ash, Faculty of Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst
(Full list of signatories here.)
These people have been watching too many of Tucker Carlson’s videos, like this one on the wonders of Russian supermarkets, where he praises the store (there’s only one, and it’s in Moscow) wonderful variety (false) and their low prices (no mention of low wages).
