There�s a case to be made that the single most intellectually and politically influential neighborhood in the United States is Chicago�s Hyde Park. Integrated, affluent and quiet, the 1.6 square-mile enclave on the city�s south side is like a tiny company town, where the company happens to be the august, gothic, eminently serious University of Chicago. Students at the U. of C. sell T-shirts that read �Where Fun Goes To Die,� and the same could be said of the neighborhood, which until very recently had a bookstore-to-bar ratio of 5:2.
What We Learn When We Learn Economics by Christopher Hayes, linked by A&L.