Jason Barr
Jason M. Barr is an American economist and author, at Rutgers University-Newark, whose work is in the field of “skynomics,” the study of skyscrapers and skylines using modern economics methods.[1][2][3][4] He is the author of Building the Skyline: The Birth and Growth of Manhattan’s Skyscrapers which chronicled the history of the Manhattan skyline from an economic perspective.[5][6] Barr earned his B.S. from Cornell University in 1992, his M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Emerson College in 1995 and his Ph.D. in Economics from Columbia University in 2002.[7]
Barr’s work has addressed widely held myths or misconceptions about skyscrapers and cities.[8][9] For example, research performed by Barr and his colleagues showed that there was no evidence for the Skyscraper Curse, that the completion of the world's tallest building is a herald of an economic crisis.[10][11] Barr has also debunked the misconception that Manhattan's geological conditions have been the reason there are few skyscrapers between lower Manhattan and Midtown.[12][13][14][15][16] Rather, Barr's work demonstrates that Midtown's origin was due to the city's demographic evolution and the fact that Manhattan is a long, but narrow, island that concentrated economic activity to a much greater degree, as compared to other cities.[17][18]
Books
- Building the Skyline: The Birth and Growth of Manhattan’s Skyscrapers. Oxford University Press, 2016. ISBN 978-0199344369
- Economic Drivers: Skyscrapers in China. Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, 2017. ISBN 978-0939493555.
References
- Emily Badger, How skyscrapers reveal the rise and fall American fortunes. The Washington Post, Wonkblog, Jan. 8, 2016
- Jason Barr. Skyscraper height. Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, 2012, 45(3), 723-753.
- Henry Grabar, Which skyscraper is tallest? It's complicated. Salon.com, Nov. 11, 2013
- Jeff Giles, It’s Tough Being a Young Skyscraper, The New York Times, Sept. 9, 2019
- The up and up. The Economist, Aug. 20, 2016.
- Jan Klerks. Book Review: Explaining the Manhattan skyline by the numbers. Skyhigh.city. August 17, 2016
- Barr, Jason. "Curriculum Vitae" (PDF). Retrieved 1 November 2016.
- Alissa Walker. 5 myths about New York City skyscrapers, debunked. Curbed.com, October 6, 2016
- Jason Barr and Gerard Koeppel. The Manhattan Street Grid Plan: Misconceptions and Corrections, January 4, 2017
- Jason Barr, Bruce Mizrach and Kusum Mundra. Skyscraper height and the business cycle: separating myth from reality. Applied Economics, 2015, 47(2), 148-160.
- Towers of Babel: Is there such a thing as the skyscraper curse? The Economist, March 28, 2015
- Matt Chaban. Uncanny valley: the real reason there are no skyscrapers in the middle of Manhattan. The New York Observer, January 17, 2012
- Matt Chaban. Paul Goldberger and skyscraper economist Jason Barr debate the Manhattan skyline. The New York Observer, January 25, 2012
- David W. Dunlap. 450 million years ago, Hell's Kitchen earned its name. The New York Times, February 2, 2015
- Jason Barr, Troy Tassier and Rossen Trendafilov. Depth to bedrock and the formation of the Manhattan skyline, 1890–1915. Journal of Economic History, 2011, 71(4), 1060-1077.
- Chris Weller. 6 hidden reasons why New York City looks like it does. TechInsider, September 25, 2015.
- Richard Florida and Andrew Small. The curious case of New York's two economic centers. Citylab.com, November 23, 2016.
- Jason Barr and Troy Tassier . The dynamics of subcenter formation: Midtown Manhattan, 1861-1906. Journal of Regional Science, 2016, 56(5), 731–933.