Edward Glaeser, Columnist

Don't Take Ed Koch's Centrist Legacy for Granted

February 4, 2013 at 3:18 PM UTC

Edward L. Glaeser is a Bloomberg View columnist appearing on alternate Tuesdays. A professor of economics at Harvard, he is the author of "Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier and Happier." Glaeser directs Harvard's Taubman Center for State and Local Government and the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston. He is also a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor to City Journal. His areas of research include the economics of cities, housing, segregation, obesity, crime and innovation. Glaeser received his B.A. from Princeton and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He lives in Weston, Mass.

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Edward Koch's upset victory in the 1977 mayoral race in New York was the desperate act of a city whose progressive dreams had been mauled by near bankruptcy, a chaotic blackout and a high murder rate. Despite 35 years of subsequent success, for which Koch deserves some credit, the city should not take for granted the tough, sensible centrism that Koch brought to City Hall.

New York rose at the start of the 19th century as America's greatest port and for more than a century, the city's economy was strong enough to withstand mayoral mediocrity and even the kleptocracy of the Tweed Ring. In 1929, the city's manufacturing workers were 72 percent more productive than the national average.