Tag Archives: economics

The Permeable Continent: Megaregions of Europe — Span, Cohesion, and a Working Typology

Posted on August 6, 2026 by nathanalbright

I. The Other Origin The megaregion has two intellectual parents, and only one of them was American. Gottmann described the Northeastern seaboard in 1961 and gave the phenomenon its first name. But the European tradition ran in parallel and, in … Continue reading →

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The Long Distances: Megaregions of Oceania — Span, Cohesion, and a Working Typology

Posted on August 5, 2026 by nathanalbright

I. The Question Oceania Answers Each region in this series has tested the megaregion concept against a different structural condition. North America supplied the case the concept was built for. South America tested it against primacy. The Caribbean tested it … Continue reading →

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The Sea Between: Megaregions of the Caribbean — Span, Cohesion, and a Working Typology

Posted on August 5, 2026 by nathanalbright

I. The Short Answer, and Why It Is Not the End of the Matter On the strict test, the Caribbean has no megaregions. The test requires either a coalescence of adjacent metropolitan labor markets or a transactional corridor joining several … Continue reading →

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The Primate Continent: Megaregions of South America — Span, Cohesion, and a Working Typology

Posted on August 5, 2026 by nathanalbright

I. Why the Category Travels Badly The megaregion concept was built in and for North America and Northwest Europe. It presumes a particular starting condition: several cities of roughly comparable weight, historically independent, growing until their commuting fields overlap. Gottmann’s … Continue reading →

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White Paper: A Conditional Typology of Rural Transportation Provision, Including Withdrawal, With Criteria Declared in Advance

Posted on August 4, 2026 by nathanalbright

1. Purpose and Method This paper specifies decision criteria for determining which transportation approach — if any — is appropriate for a given rural American community, and applies them to produce a typology. It is written to a constraint: the … Continue reading →

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White Paper: Connectivity Rather Than Modes: An Integrated Bus, Rail, and Air Framework for American Communities

Posted on August 4, 2026 by nathanalbright

1. Executive Summary The United States does not have a rural transportation problem so much as a rural transfer problem. Each mode is separately funded, separately planned, separately measured, and separately advocated for — and the trips people actually need … Continue reading →

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White Paper: A Feasible 40-to-50-Seat Aircraft for Underserved U.S. Communities: Working Backward from a Pre-2040 Entry Into Service

Posted on August 4, 2026 by nathanalbright

1. Executive Summary The recommendation of this paper is deliberately unromantic: a pressurized, high-wing, twin-turboprop, 44-to-50-seat Part 25 aircraft, derived from an existing type certificate rather than drawn clean-sheet, powered by an in-production or minor-derivative engine in the 2,400-to-3,000 shaft-horsepower … Continue reading →

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White Paper: Right-Sizing the Extremes: Airline and Route Fit for the Boeing 737-7 and 737-10

Posted on August 4, 2026 by nathanalbright

1. Executive Summary The FAA issued an amended type certificate for the Boeing 737-7 on August 3, 2026, closing a certification campaign that began with first flight in March 2018. Flight testing started before the global MAX grounding, the pandemic, … Continue reading →

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The Continental Lattice: Megaregions of North America — Span, Cohesion, and a Working Typology: A White Paper

Posted on August 3, 2026 by nathanalbright

I. The Problem of the Unit North American settlement is routinely described at two scales and governed at a third. Analysts speak of metropolitan areas — the commuting-defined statistical units that agencies in all three countries produce — and of … Continue reading →

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The Direction of the Tape: Demo Flow as a Status, Income, and Recognition System in Popular Music

Posted on August 2, 2026 by nathanalbright

Abstract A demo is a recording made to be replaced. Its economics are therefore peculiar: it is a costly artifact whose value is realized only when another party discards it in favor of their own version. This paper treats the … Continue reading →

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