New Orleans is a pretty great place, but in no way is it a major city.

mikeash · on April 19, 2019

Whatever you want to call a metro area of over a million people with a GDP approaching $80 billion, a few hundred million to protect it seems cheap.

thanatos_dem · on April 19, 2019

Where’s the $80B number coming from?

From the sources I found (from 2017) GDP per capita is $52,536 (from Open Data Network), and population is 393,292 (US Census Bureau), giving a GDP of right around $20B.

We’ve already spent 14 on it, and will continue to need to spend indefinitely, so the numbers really aren’t great.

mikeash · on April 19, 2019

Metro area, not just the city proper. https://www.frbatlanta.org/economy-matters/2015/08/20/new-or...