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Saturday, November 19, 2005
Cities and their oxygen
Celebrity isn't wisdom. And yet, newspapers run after celebs and get them to pontificate grandly on all kinds of subjects. Check out this piece in DNA in which Raveena Tandon expresses the view that Mumbai should have a cap to its population, and it should not "accept or absorb" any more people after that limit is reached.
I suggest Ms Tandon do some thinking on why Mumbai is such a thriving city. Urbanisation fuels economic growth -- Metcalfe's Law goes some way in explaining why -- and all great cities have been built on the sweat of migrants. Mumbai has many problems, but keeping people out, if such a thing is even logistically possible, will exacerbate and not solve them. Migration is the oxygen of cities -- let them breathe freely.
Cross-posted on The Indian Economy Blog.
I suggest Ms Tandon do some thinking on why Mumbai is such a thriving city. Urbanisation fuels economic growth -- Metcalfe's Law goes some way in explaining why -- and all great cities have been built on the sweat of migrants. Mumbai has many problems, but keeping people out, if such a thing is even logistically possible, will exacerbate and not solve them. Migration is the oxygen of cities -- let them breathe freely.
Cross-posted on The Indian Economy Blog.
