Chicago Professor Jenkins Talks Inequality in Muni Market
- Academic’s book studies postwar San Francisco muni finances
- Communities still structurally rely on market actors, he says
This article is for subscribers only.
Destin Jenkins is an assistant professor of history at the University of Chicago and author of “The Bonds of Inequality: Debt and the Making of the American City.” I was so taken by the book, which presents the postwar history of the San Francisco municipal bond market and which I reviewed on April 9, that I followed up with him, first to ask about how he came to write about municipal bonds, but also to bring his story into the present day. The interview, conducted via email, has been edited for length and clarity.
JM: Why the “critical and understudied” municipal bond market, as you refer to it?