City Journal

City Journal A magazine of urban affairs, published by the Manhattan Institute, edited by Brian C. Anderson Anderson.

A quarterly magazine of urban affairs, published by the Manhattan Institute, edited by Brian C.

What’s causing New York City's housing-affordability problem? To understand it, we need to examine how investors make de...
05/12/2026

What’s causing New York City's housing-affordability problem? To understand it, we need to examine how investors make decisions and the financial math that drives their choices. The problem isn’t “greed,” as some maintain. It’s that, for New York City real-estate developers, building is simply too expensive.

Read more from Ramon Maislen:

It boils down to a simple problem: building is too expensive.

A new study shows that GLP-1s, the blockbuster weight-loss drugs, help with another common lifestyle disease: alcohol-us...
05/12/2026

A new study shows that GLP-1s, the blockbuster weight-loss drugs, help with another common lifestyle disease: alcohol-use disorder.

Read more from Gabriel Rossman:

New research shows promising results.

“As of today, Clarence Thomas is the second-longest-serving justice in Supreme Court history. That milestone would be no...
05/10/2026

“As of today, Clarence Thomas is the second-longest-serving justice in Supreme Court history. That milestone would be notable for any jurist. For Thomas, it marks something more: the vindication of a constitutional vision that, for decades, was caricatured as eccentric, angry, or unserious—until the Court, and the country, began catching up.” Read more from Ilya Shapiro:

The Court’s most steadfast originalist reaches a historic milestone.

The Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools designated May 1 as a day of civic action and enlisted students as...
05/09/2026

The Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools designated May 1 as a day of civic action and enlisted students as young as kindergarten in large pro-labor and anti-Trump demonstrations. The campaign exploited students as pawns to advance a partisan agenda, disrupting the school day with political activism rather than genuine civics instruction. Read more from Aidan Grogan:

Before students can engage in civic action, they must first learn to read and write.

In their new book Muskism, Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff appear to want to diminish Elon Musk, giving the impression t...
05/09/2026

In their new book Muskism, Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff appear to want to diminish Elon Musk, giving the impression that he earned his wealth not through skill—but luck. Read Russ Greene’s review:

A new book’s attempt to assess the entrepreneur’s “state symbiosis” from a left-wing stance lands a few blows but mostly falls flat.

“Dalrymple is indispensable because he refuses to romanticize the poor or celebrate intellectual rebellion. He writes ab...
05/08/2026

“Dalrymple is indispensable because he refuses to romanticize the poor or celebrate intellectual rebellion. He writes about people who trade stability for fleeting pleasures and a culture that cheers them on. Without pity or platitude, he cuts through the fog of jargon, reminding us that stability is fragile, that tradition is wisdom distilled through trial, and that humans are capable of virtue only when we believe we should be.” Read more from Robert Henderson:

Foreword to the 25th anniversary edition of "Life at the Bottom: The Worldview That Makes the Underclass"

“A university that makes the Constitution optional but DEI mandatory has lost sight of its civic purpose,” Kevin Wallste...
05/08/2026

“A university that makes the Constitution optional but DEI mandatory has lost sight of its civic purpose,” Kevin Wallsten writes.

Universities emphasize diversity, equity, and inclusion over civics—and produce uninformed citizens hostile to free expression.

Governor Kathy Hochul just did something rare in New York education politics: put students ahead of the teachers’ unions...
05/08/2026

Governor Kathy Hochul just did something rare in New York education politics: put students ahead of the teachers’ unions. Last night, she announced that she would sign up New York State for the One Big Beautiful Bill’s tax credit for Scholarship Granting Organizations. Hochul deserves real credit for giving more families the chance to pursue a quality education for their children, and for resisting New York’s powerful teachers’ unions. Read more from John Ketcham:

The New York governor’s decision to opt in to a federal scholarship tax credit deserves praise.

“An increasingly obsessive focus on progressive politics has caused New York’s powerful teachers’ unions to lose sight o...
05/08/2026

“An increasingly obsessive focus on progressive politics has caused New York’s powerful teachers’ unions to lose sight of their basic job: representing teachers. Interviews with union members, teachers, and former educators reveal growing discontent over the scope of the unions’ political activism, with some saying the unions have gone too far and should concentrate on their traditional mission of negotiating better contracts for the workers they represent.” Read more from Adam Lehodey:

Prioritizing social-justice activism over traditional collective bargaining may erode union power.

“As masked men yell about killing Jews, well-meaning, peaceful commentators will assure you that they’re angry only abou...
05/07/2026

“As masked men yell about killing Jews, well-meaning, peaceful commentators will assure you that they’re angry only about the settlements question. When rioters attack police officers in an attempt to get close to a house of worship (on behalf of causes our own mayor supports), many of our fellow New Yorkers—influenced by radical education and two-minute Instagram reels that dumb down a complex, decades-long conflict—will confidently tell you that this violence is a natural response to the policies of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and that anti-Semitism has nothing to do with it.” Read more from Yael Bar Tur:

Anti-Semitism and violence aren’t just tolerated—they’re increasingly excused and supported.

Oregon and Washington used to be two of the country’s most desirable destinations. But starting in the late 2010s, they ...
05/07/2026

Oregon and Washington used to be two of the country’s most desirable destinations. But starting in the late 2010s, they began moving sharply left. Government spending surged, taxes and regulations expanded, urban disorder intensified, and personal freedoms narrowed during the Covid lockdowns. The result? A dramatic reversal in migration patterns. Read more from Steven Malanga:

Oregon and Washington were two of the most popular U.S. destinations before the tax man arrived.

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