The Menace of Prosperity: New York City and the Struggle for Economic Development, 1865–1981

by Daniel Wortel-London

Upends entrenched thinking about cities, demonstrating how urban economies are defined—or constrained—by the fiscal imagination of policymakers, activists, and residents.
 
Many local policymakers make decisions based on a deep-seated what’s good for the rich is good for cities. Convinced that local finances depend on attracting wealthy firms and residents, municipal governments lavish public subsidies on their behalf. Whatever form this strategy takes—tax-exempt apartments, corporate incentives, debt-financed mega projects—its rationale remains consistent and assumed to be true. But this wasn’t always the case. Between the 1870s and the 1970s, a wide range of activists, citizens, and intellectuals in New York City connected local fiscal crises to the greed and waste of the rich. These figures saw other routes to development, possibilities rooted in alternate ideas about what was fiscally viable.
 
In The Menace of Prosperity, Daniel Wortel-London argues that urban economics and politics are shaped by what he terms the “fiscal imagination” of policymakers, activists, advocates, and other figures. His survey of New York City during a period of explosive growth shows how residents went beyond the limits of redistributive liberalism to imagine how their communities could become economically viable without the largesse of the wealthy. Their strategies—which included cooperatives, public housing, land-value taxation, public utilities, and more—centered the needs and capabilities of ordinary residents as the basis for local economies that were both prosperous and just.
 
Overturning stale axioms about economic policy, The Menace of Prosperity shows that not all growth is productive for cities. Wortel-London’s ambitious history demonstrates the range of options we’ve abandoned and hints at the economic frameworks we could still realize—and the more democratic cities that might result.

Genres: History, Economics, Nonfiction

336 pages, Hardcover

Published November 19, 2025

Reviews

[Sarah Jensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book Review: The Menace of Prosperity: New York City and the Struggle for Economic Development, 1865–1981 by Daniel Wortel-London
Rating: 4.8/5

Daniel Wortel-London’s The Menace of Prosperity is a revelatory gut-punch of urban history—a book that dismantles century-old economic dogmas with the precision of a scholar and the urgency of a street protest. As someone who’s witnessed New York’s skyline transform under the weight of luxury condos and corporate subsidies, I was electrified by Wortel-London’s excavation of forgotten alternatives: cooperative housing models, land-value taxes, and public utilities that once promised a more equitable city. The chapter “Homes Are More Important than Skyscrapers” (Part II) left me equal parts inspired and furious—how had these ideas been erased from mainstream policy discourse?

Wortel-London’s genius lies in framing economic policy as a battleground of “fiscal imagination” rather than inevitability. His archival sleuthing reveals how 19th-century labor activists and mid-century planners dared to question whether chasing wealthy residents truly benefited cities—a radical notion even today. The prose balances academic rigor with narrative flair (the case study of 1970s tenant movements reads like a thriller), though I occasionally craved more voices from marginalized communities to complement the focus on policy intellectuals. Still, this is a minor quibble in a work that brilliantly connects historical fights over subway fares and utility ownership to contemporary debates about Amazon HQ2 and Penn Station redevelopment.

By the conclusion, I felt armed with something rare in urban studies: hope. If these alternatives once flourished, they could again.

Summary Takeaways:
- The Silent Spring of urban economics—Wortel-London proves prosperity isn’t trickling down; it’s being hoarded.
- For fans of Evicted and The Power Broker—a bombshell revision of New York’s ‘growth at all costs’ mythology.
- Turns Jane Jacobs vs. Robert Moses into a sideshow. The real fight was always rich vs. rest—and this book picks a side.
- A time capsule of lost futures: The Menace of Prosperity resurrects the blueprints for cities that never were—but could be.
- Required reading for every YIMBY, NIMBY, and ‘just tax land’ meme-sharer. History’s verdict? We’ve been doing it wrong.

Thank you to the University of Chicago Press and Edelweiss for the advance copy. The Menace of Prosperity isn’t just urban history—it’s a manifesto for reclaiming cities from the 1%.

[Russell Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've written a lengthy review of this book; you can read it here. But the too-long-didn't-read version is quite simple: I think The Menace of Prosperity deserves to join the classics of urbanism by Lewis Mumford, Jane Jacobs, and many others you. I learned something new, and found something new to think about, argue with, and reflect upon, on every single page. It is a great, great book.

[Elias Crim · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a blast of sanity and amazing history the author has combined here. "The billionaires will save us" turns out to be a story that began in the 1980s, like so many other bad ideas. In a highly readable style, the author traces the rise and fall of different ideas about how best to raise revenue for New York City--and (here's a new thing) their social costs.

Did you know the urban policy mix in NYC once included worker coops, land-value taxes, and community-owned enterprises?

Here's a book to expand our "fiscal imaginations", to use the author's term!