Firms, Fires, and Firebreaks: The Impact of the 1906 San Francisco Disaster on Business Agglomeration

James Siodla is an Associate Professor of Economics at Colby College. He is the author of Firms, fires, and firebreaks: The impact of the 1906 San Francisco disaster on business agglomeration. We also discuss related work by him: Clean slate: Land-use changes in San Francisco after the 1906 disaster and Razing San Francisco: The 1906 disaster as a natural experiment in urban redevelopment.

Extra Materials Discussed in this Episode: Sanborn Maps; The Limits of Power

Appendices: James Siodla: Disruptive Effects of Natural Disasters: The 1906 San Francisco Fire by Hanna Schwank and Destruction, Policy, and the Evolving Consequences of Washington, DC’s 1968 Civil Disturbance by Leah Brooks, Jonathan Rose, and Stan Veuger.

Greg Shill: Succession and History versus Expectations in the Spatial Economy: Lessons from Hiroshima by Kohei Takeda and Atsushi Yamagishi.

Jeff Lin: A Long History of a Short Block: Four Centuries of Development Surprises on a Single Stretch of a New York City Street by William Easterly, Laura Freschi, and Steven Pennings.

Follow us on the web or on Twitter: @denselyspeaking, @jeffrlin, @greg_shill, and @JSiodla

Producer: Courtney Campbell

The views expressed on the show are those of the participants, and do not necessarily represent the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, the Federal Reserve System, or any of the other institutions with which the hosts or guests are affiliated.