# Professor Paul Romer studies Burning Man as a model for future urban development

1 Faculty News September 5, 2019 ![The New York Times Logo](/sites/default/files/styles/246w/public/assets/images/uat_027320.jpg?itok=W8xBr66g)>

Excerpt from [The New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/05/upshot/paul-romer-burning-man-nobel-economist.html) -- "'It’s a metaphor for my sense of economics,' Mr. Romer said. 'I picture an economist showing up at Burning Man and saying: "Oh, look! This is the miracle of the invisible hand. All of this stuff happens by self-interest, and it just magically appears." And there’s this huge amount of planning that actually is what’s required beneath it to make the order emerge.'"

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