Michael Hankinson

On Friday at #APSA, I'll be presenting new research on how political geography shapes the siting of collective goods. We use the consolidation of municipalities in Denmark to show how the distribution of entire electorate affects where wind energy is politically viable.

If Steph Curry can't build in San Francisco . . . 😔 sfstandard.com/2025/04/03/ste…

Tackling NIMBYs head on has been an abject failure. You don't smash them — sooner or later they smash you. We need a different approach. And there’s a weirdly obvious solution to fighting NIMBY: 'stuffing their mouths with gold'. Sam Bowman (@s8mb) and I discuss his 'housing theory of everything' and how to actually fix our catastrophically busted planning permission system on the 80,000 Hours Podcast. Also: how avant-garde architects are the great villains of our age, how to tackle terrible incumbent institutions, Europe's need for nuclear, Ozempic remaining highly underrated, and how progress studies stays sane. 1:21 We can't seem to build anything 3:15 And it's ruining people's lives 8:28 The housing theory of everything 17:03 The UK is the world's worst 35:47 Why almost no progress fixing it 43:11 NIMBYs are often harmed by development 54:50 Solution #1: Street votes 1:18:47 Will street votes come to the US 1:24:21 Solution #2: Stuffing mouths with gold 1:43:42 The most important policy setting you've never heard of 1:57:06 Solution #3: Opt-outs 2:10:32 How to make it happen 2:17:30 Making old institutions die a gradual death 2:31:11 The evil of modern architecture and the importance of beauty 2:44:14 The north needs nuclear 3:01:43 Ozempic and "the overweight theory of everything" 3:17:08 How progress studies has avoided online madness I'd been hoping to interview Sam Bowman for years and he's the guest I always dreamed he would be. Transcript and links on the 80,000 Hours site, and a much higher res 4K version on YT (can't upload full quality to Twitter sadly).

🚨Job🚨 Interested in working 2 years in beautiful Copenhagen with an excellent group of political economists? @JStuckatz and I are hiring a postdoc for a revolving door project at @CBScph. Start: summer '25. No teaching. Deadline: January 5 '25 Link to job ad in next tweet