An economist visits New Orleans. By Tyler Cowen

This Slate article looks at New Orleans universities post-K.

An economist visits New Orleans. By Tyler Cowen

You would never guess that Xavier University in New Orleans sat under 8 feet of water. Sure, the student center is being gutted, and some of the grand Gothic Revival doors have searchers’ spray paint still visible. But for the most part it looks like any other midsize Southern American university. The students, back from their semesters away, are gathered on the quads. The faculty members are back in the classroom and the laboratory. Energy is in the air. Yet the neighborhood across the street still lies in ruins.

I teach at Xavier, and it is a surreal feeling to look out of a fourth floor window and not see any occupied homes in what used to be lively urban neighborhoods.

It has been almost 8 months.