The Drive for Dollars

Brian D. Taylor, Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, Eric A. Morris, Professor of City and Regional Planning, Clemson University, and Jeffrey R. Brown, Professor and Chairperson of Urban and Regional Planning, Florida State University Brian D. Taylor is a Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy in the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and Director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at UCLA. He studies travel behavior and transportation equity, finance, history, and politics. His recent research examines the role of public finance in shaping transportation systems and travel outcomes, the socio-economic dimensions of travel behavior, and the effects of traffic congestion on regional economies and housing production, and public transit use and finance prior to and during the Covid-19 pandemic. Eric A. Morris is Professor of City and Regional Planning at Clemson University, where in addition to transportation history, he studies the links between transportation and geography and activity patterns, happiness, and quality of life. He attended Harvard for his undergraduate work, and after a decade writing for television programs in Los Angeles received an M.A. and a PhD. in urban planning from UCLA. While a doctoral student, he wrote a column on transportation and urbanization for the New York Times' Freakonomics blog. Jeffrey R. Brown is Professor and Chairperson in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at Florida State University. His interest in transportation dates to his childhood in Southern California where an early fascination with the extensive local freeway system grew into a curiosity about cars, trains, buses, and planes and how their use shaped cities and affected the lives of city residents.