If Small Towns Want to Survive, They Need a Plan B

To Fill Up the Storefronts Again, It Takes Talented, Enterprising Folks Who Aren’t Acting Alone

This country is littered with dying small towns that lacked a plan B, one they should have had in place before the mill shut down or the factory moved to Mexico.

Mount Shasta, California, and Ashland, Oregon did it right. Located in the California–Oregon border region where I live, they avoided economic devastation by having their survival plans well underway by the time their lumber mills began to shut down more than a half century ago.

Indeed, Mount Shasta was more than 100 years ahead of the curve thanks to a guy named …

How Economic Warfare Backfired in Rome | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

How Economic Warfare Backfired in Rome

An Ancient Conflict Sheds Light on the Consequences and Limits of Sanctions

Attacks on a state’s economy can inflict immense damage, but sanctions and other tools of economic warfare are unlikely to defeat a superior military power. Instead, economic disruptions may prompt …

California’s Economy Needs a Diversity Strategy | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

California’s Economy Needs a Diversity Strategy

Drunk on Tech Wealth, the State Is Failing to Make DEI a Priority for Workers and Job Seekers

California is rapidly losing its diversity. So why aren’t we hearing more about it from our diversity-obsessed media and politicians?

Because the diversity we are losing is not in our demography …

Can NFTs Build Trust?

Blockchain Technology Is Creating New Institutions to Rely On and New Ways for Humans to Connect

Are we in a crisis of trust? Trust in institutions—governments, medicine, media—has been declining for decades, and a lack of trust in public health programs has fueled COVID-related deaths. It …

Patrick Soon-Shiong

What the 10 Richest Angelenos Tell Us About L.A. and Its Economy

From Aerospace to Apparel—These Billionaires’ Businesses Reflect the Entrepreneurship and Variety of the County

If you were trying to understand the economy of Los Angeles County during the first half of the 20th century—the period in which L.A. emerged as a modern metropolis—you’d do …

Could COVID-19 Force Us to Confront Our Consumption Problem? | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Could COVID-19 Force Us to Confront Our Consumption Problem?

The Pandemic Changed Us—And We Don’t Have to Return to Old Shopping Habits

It never seems to be the right time to talk about our consumption problem. When the economy is strong, we’re told that slowing our ever-expanding appetite for goods, services, and …