Call it Anti-Industrial Policy: we need policies to nudge Americans to own and operate more little public-facing businesses. Speciality shops. Six-seater bars. Esoteric services. Restaurants serving two or three dishes. It would lower productivity and increase quality of life.
As I understand, this exists in Japan thanks to (a) generous tax treatment, (b) extremely liberal zoning/permitting, and (c) a cultural desire to engage in this work, brought on by the awfulness of Japanese corporate culture. We can't emulate (c), but we can emulate (a) and (b)!
“We have tacitly abandoned certain public spaces to the most disordered and depraved among us because enforcing the law feels mean and makes us uncomfortable,” writes @katrosenfield.
@mnolangray It could be pro-productivity. The mountains of regulation are a distortionary moat for large corporations, so there are fewer such small businesses than is economically optimal.
@mnolangray This is what we’ll all do when AGI does everything else.
@mnolangray Mixed-use is literally forbidden in most American cities. You can bring the horse to the faucet, but you have to turn it on first!!
@mnolangray It's not because there's not enough nudging, it's because it's effectively illegal. You don't even need to have a license to run a bar in Japan. Or, if you do, it's not enforced. Liquor licenses in some American cities run into six figures.
@mnolangray @tmyrbrgh It'll never happen in America. All the large corps monopolized everything and then put laws and costs in place to gatekeep people from starting small businesses.
@mnolangray Could we have laws protecting us from Gigantic corporations buying up all of the houses in a town, first, though?
@mnolangray Japan also restricts eminent domain, which makes it easier to stay put even when the Big New Redevelopment Project comes to town. Hence, the Japanese nail houses.
@mnolangray It’s not economically viable except for maybe retirees. The American version of this is swap meets and burning man. Most people would rather manager a Starbucks at 60k a year than run their own shop at 20k a year - also Japan has the lowest entrepreneurial rate in oecd
@mnolangray Some of these new 5,6,7 floor building have retail shops that stand empty for years. Why does this make sense for building owners? Why not make these spaces more affordable or smaller for more mom and pop businesses?
@mnolangray I've been wondering about this. Right now an emphasis on ground level retail is causing a lot of vacancy and wasted space in SF. This makes sense only if we can significantly increase the population.
@mnolangray That scale is too small to make a profit. Charming, but bankruptcy follows.
@mnolangray If commercial rents were lower it would happen.
@mnolangray How are the measly profits gonna help increase quality of life?
@mnolangray @SaladBarFan I wouldn't sell this as anti-Industrial policy, since Japan has a hyper efficient manufacturing sector. If anything, it lead to a "less-efficient" retail sector.
@mnolangray the equivalent to that photo in the US is taco stands on the sidewalk of a stroad. not nearly as appealing.
@mnolangray Difference between ‘GDP’ and everything else. Note that this only works because Japan in a high trust, generally homogeneous society that ABSOLUTELY CURRBSTOMPS criminals to send a message.
@mnolangray In the City of Detroit, this would cost you 2% of your business income in tax, 2.8% of your personal income in tax, a blizzard of fees and paperwork, and about $12,000 a year in property taxes. Thats why we are the city of empty storefronts 🏬 Like broken teeth 🦷
@mnolangray SoCal is already kinda like this, there's so much urban sprawl that tiny retailers are everywhere, because even as prevalent as the mega-franchises are, they can't come close to occupying even 30% of the retail rows we have.
@mnolangray Required reading 👀
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@mnolangray Six-seater Chick-fil-A. I'll set up a meeting.
@mnolangray The system we have now isn’t that productive. We do well because of the brute force of mechanization and scale.
@mnolangray Yes I think Japan is cool too, but this should be done through removing regulation rather than increasing spending
@mnolangray There is currently strong evidence the US should start sacrificing things that are normally help the population (welfare, low unemployment, higher wages, cheaper utilities, remote work, etc.) in the name of making cities nicer but cheaper + just forcing people to socialize.
@mnolangray Love my 10,000 inhabitants hometown
@mnolangray Do we need nudge or do we just need to allow?
@mnolangray Productivity is good, it increases quality of life. We can have big biz and small cafes. There are as many specialty shops and small bars as the market demands. Urbanists tend to overestimate that market, though.
@mnolangray Land value tax would (do a slot to contribute to) solv(ing) this.
@mnolangray All we need for this to happen is cheap rent.
@mnolangray besides YIMBY stuff and licensing reform what else do you think helps us get there?
@mnolangray That only works in places like osaka and tokyo where its not insanely expensive to live, and some of the higest population density on earth allows lots of customers to cycle through small spaces. This isnt a policy solve youd need to build tokyo outside of SF to get that
@mnolangray i used to agree with you. I have been to japan, lived in new York, walked everywhere. but this cant work in the USA. blacks would ruin it. its the harshest of hard truths. they would fight and shoot each other. I know its hard to accept. its reality.