Essays

People, read in context

Commentary based on public material, and clearly marked direct interviews.

Max Levchin: Three Companies, a Changing Job
Follow Max Levchin’s move from PayPal CTO to leading Slide and Affirm, and a brief reflection on uncomfortable decisions from his public interview.
Commentary

Joel Mokyr and the Cities Where Useful Knowledge Travels

Long Missions, Grounded Lives: What Two NASA Careers Reveal About Living Between Orbit and the City

Creative Destruction and the City: What Philippe Aghion's Prize-Winning Theory Says About Where We Work

One Circuit, Many Cities: The Mobile Careers Behind the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics

Institutions and Prosperity: What the 2024 Nobel Trio's Careers Reveal About Cities That Thrive

From Haugesund to Seoul: How Three Nobel Laureates Carried Places Into Literature

Claudia Goldin and the Nobel Recognition of Women's Labour Market Research