66. Because an NYU Professor Tried to Start a Colony in Honduras.

Paul Romer had a grand plan to solve the intractable problem of stagnant growth in the impoverished and corruption-ridden corners of the world: put himself in charge. With a project the NYU economics professor called “charter cities,” he’d build new communities in desperate places; outsource governance to efficient states, like those Scandinavian ones; and let the developing world climb out of poverty through neocolonialism. It was the kind of idea that can make the academy look almost like a Willy Wonka playhouse, and, amazingly, Honduras took him up on the offer, granting Romer a plot on which to build a proposed city of millions. In the summer, he backed out, citing the reluctance of Honduran officials to grant him the authority he felt he needed to revive their economy.

66. Because an NYU Professor Tried to Start a Col […]