Pricing the Neighborhood with Ely Fair

We speak with Ely Fair, who studies structural inequality and poverty in urban geographies from a heterodox perspective. Fair holds a Ph.D. in Economics from University of Missouri, Kansas City and is presently a visiting instructor in Economics at Knox College. 

Examining the institutions responsible for social valuation, maintenance, and transformation at the neighborhood level, Fair focuses especially on the role of housing policy in the racialization of U.S. cities. During our conversation, Fair not only spells out important discoveries in this critical research, but also outlines several positive policy solutions designed to remediate the unjust development of urban geographies.

In doing so, Fair explicates his work on the legal history of complementary currencies in the United States, emphasizing the generative role they can play today in advancing housing justice, empowering municipal governments to mobilize labor to create and maintain safe and affordable housing.

Lastly, Fair relays his findings about The Freedman’s Savings Bank. Specifically, he contends that the bank's collapse was a result of the federal government’s “negligent paternalism,” creating a moral and equitable obligation for the U.S. government to finally restore the outstanding deposits. From here, Fair proposes a targeted program of restitution that leverages digitized archival records to identify and compensate approximately half a million Black American descendants.

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Music by Nahneen Kula: www.nahneenkula.com