Jason M. Barr is a professor of economics at Rutgers University-Newark. One of the world’s foremost experts on the economics of skyscrapers, he is the author of Building the Skyline: The Birth and Growth of Manhattan Skyscrapers (OUP, 2016) and Cities in the Sky: The Quest to Build the World’s Tallest Skyscrapers (Scribner, 2024). His research has been featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Economist, Curbed.com, and Architectural Record. A Long Island native, Barr received his bachelor’s degree from Cornell University, his MFA in creative writing from Emerson College, and his Ph.D. from Columbia University. His writings have appeared in The New York Times, StarTrek.com, Dezeen.com, Scientific American, and the Irish Independent. He currently writes the Skynomics Blog, a blog about skyscrapers, cities, and economics.