View this email online

Skateonomics

by Greg Rosalsky

“The Skateboarding Ethic and the Spirit of Anti-Capitalism.” That was the title of an unusual paper presented at the annual meeting of American economists this year. The title was clearly a reference to a famous 1905 book by German sociologist and economist Max Weber, The Protestant Work Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. And I really wanted to know what this economist was going to argue, and, even more, who he was.

This year’s economics conference was spread out across hotels around San Francisco’s Union Square. On the first day of the conference, it was raining hard, and I ran from my hotel to another one down the street to see this paper be presented.

Sopping wet, I entered a small, basement conference room before the presentations began. “Is this where the skateboarding paper is being presented?” I asked the room.

Sure enough, a Gen Xer with baggy blue jeans, Vans skate shoes, and a tweed blazer with elbow pads — the only fashion item that screamed “I’m an academic” — stood up and turned around. “Yes, I’m presenting the skateboarding paper here,” he said.

This tweed-jacketed, Vans-wearing man was Thomas Kemp. He’s an economist at The University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire. Kemp says he’s been skateboarding for 40 years, and he continues to skate every day he can (it gets harder to skate during Wisconsin’s winters, so Kemp says he snow skates as well).

For a long time, Kemp published pretty standard economic papers. Papers with titles like, “The Impact of Water Clarity on Home Prices in Northwestern Wisconsin” and “Estimation of product price elasticity of demand.”

“When I was a graduate student, I was actually going to write about skateboarding, but I was told ‘that’s not a good idea,’” Kemp says. But Kemp is more established now. In fact, he’s the chair of his economics department, so he’s more willing to ollie onto the topics he’s the most passionate about.

Kemp’s transformation began a few years back, when he discovered the burgeoning academic literature on skateboarding. “I was just blown away, like, ‘Wow, people are doing academic work on skateboarding,’” Kemp says. And that’s when he did his 180 kickflip.

“ I literally dropped everything else I was working on and started writing papers on skateboarding,” Kemp says.

Adam Hester/Getty Images

The Value of Skateparks

Kemp has now published a series of economic papers about skateboarding. One paper, recently published in The Journal of Economic Analysis, is titled “Shred Central: Estimating the user benefits associated with large public skateparks.” Kemp estimated the consumer benefits of the Lauridsen Skatepark in Des Moines, Iowa. At 88,000 square feet, it’s the largest skatepark in the United States.

One of the issues with the economics of skateparks is they’re generally free to use, which makes it difficult to figure out how much they’re actually worth. This is a common problem for public goods, like parks, beaches, rec centers, and so on. Determining the value of a skatepark is important to figure out whether, for example, communities should build more skateparks, and how big and tricked-out those skateparks should be. Despite the popularity of the sport — estimates suggest there may be as many as 9 million skateboarders in the US — “public resources devoted to skateboarding lag far beyond other leisure activities such as softball, tennis, or soccer,” Kemp writes.

Kemp argues that the distance skaters (and BMXers, roller bladers, and other recreationists) are willing to travel to go to the skatepark provides a good way to estimate the value of it. Traveling requires time and money, so the distance users are willing to travel provides an indication of how much they think a skatepark is worth.

In “Shred Central,” Kemp surveyed skateboarders at Lauridsen Skatepark, and found they “will travel great distances at significant cost to ride a park of high perceived quality.” Crunching numbers on use of the park and travel distance, Kemp estimates that the user benefits of this skatepark are “$61 per user per day and roughly $488,000 annually.” This high estimate for the value of the skatepark suggests that there’s a shortage of high-quality skateparks around the country and that community leaders should build more of them. Rad!

“The Skateboarding Ethic and the Spirit of Anti-Capitalism”

In his 1905 book, The Protestant Work Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Max Weber argued that Protestant Christianity, especially Calvinism, promoted ethics, like thrift and hard work, that helped nurture the birth of capitalism and rapid economic growth in Northern Europe.

Like Protestants, skateboarders, Kemp argues, have their own set of ethics that can affect their economic lives. And, in Kemp’s view, these ethics can come into conflict with capitalism. For example, skateboarders are known to skate on private property and in front of businesses in search of cool, skateable features. It’s one reason why community leaders have been building skateparks: to encourage skaters to skate in sanctioned areas that are less disruptive to business.

Kemp sees a similar process in history with stickball and baseball. During his presentation, Kemp showed a picture of baseball legend Willie Mays playing stickball in the street when he was young. Like with skateboarding, Kemp says, many leaders saw stickball as a nuisance that disrupted commerce. Kids would shut down streets and disrupt traffic to play the game. They would hit balls and dent cars and break windows. This “irritation to commerce,” Kemp suggests, inspired communities to start building baseball diamonds in community parks and institutionalize the game into more organized and less disruptive baseball leagues.

Bettmann/Getty Images

“The drive towards creating skateparks appears to me to be on a similar trajectory to what we saw with stickball into baseball,” he says. “That said, we’re now 50-plus years into skateboarding history, and so far, skateboarding seems to be relatively immune from that institutionalization. It's just as common to see kids skateboarding out in the streets as it is in a skatepark, perhaps even more so.”

Kemp was the last person to present a paper during this particular conference session. The paper presented before him was much less fun, highlighting physical and mental health problems plaguing our society, including the rise of depression, anxiety, and deaths of despair. The author blamed our economic and health systems, which “prioritizes profits over people’s health,” for making these problems worse.

In important ways, skateboarding is a product of capitalism. For decades, for-profit companies have developed and manufactured better skate decks, trucks, and wheels. They’ve marketed the sport. They’ve popularized it. They’ve made it more accessible. Kemp acknowledges that. But he also sees ethics within the culture of skateboarding that can help people overcome the challenges they may face in our capitalist society.

The skateboarding ethic, Kemp says, is “an ethic of resiliency. I fall, I get up, I do it again.” It’s an ethic of “self-betterment. The skateboarder is always trying to do another trick. They’re trying to do the trick better with more style. They’re trying to do it in different places. They’re comparing themselves to their past selves and not necessarily other skateboarders.” And it’s an ethic that isn’t really concerned with competition with others. Skateboarding, he says, is a non-zero sum game. “In other words, if I do the trick, it doesn’t matter that the other skateboarder didn’t do the trick. I’m not in competition with them. I don’t win, they lose, or I lose, they win. No, we’re all winning — hopefully — compared to our previous selves.”

Skateboarding, Kemp suggests, can help us become more resilient. It can help us build more pride in ourselves. It can help us fight isolation and build community. And it can help us exercise, alleviate stress, find joy, and escape the 9-5 grind.

"Skateboarding has something to show us about living life in these challenging times that we find ourselves in,” Kemp says.

Kemp’s presentation, appropriately, took place in San Francisco, which is widely recognized as one of the best and most hardcore skateboarding cities in the world. Skaters here are known to “bomb” hills like daredevils, reaching high speeds and doing incredible tricks. And the city has really come to embrace skateboarding. For example, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art currently has a skateboarding exhibit called “Unity Through Skateboarding” (which, apparently, my son and wife really enjoyed while I was attending this conference).

“San Francisco is legendary,” Kemp said. “Of course, this is a work trip. But, hopefully, I’ll get some skating in while I’m here.”

Not subscribed? Subscribe to this newsletter.

Want to send this to others? Share the web-version of this newsletter on social media.

Want more Planet Money? Listen to our podcasts.

Newsletter continues after sponsor message

Get Bonus Content

Subscribe to Planet Money+ for bonus episodes with behind the scenes takes, extended interviews, and extra facts we couldn’t fit into the main show. Plus, it’s ad free. You’ll get The Indicator and Planet Money Summer School too - all while supporting our nerdy, ambitious journalism. Learn more at Plus.npr.org/PlanetMoney.

On Our Podcasts

ZIP Codes! — The ZIP code is less like a cold, clinical, ordered list of numbers, and more like a weird overgrown number garden. It started as a way to organize mail after WWII, but now it pops up all over our daily lives. You type it into the machine at the gas station to verify your credit card. You might type it into a rental search website if you're looking for a new apartment. Back in 2013, the ZIP Code contributed about 10 billion dollars a year to the US economy. Listen here

The potato-shaped loophole in free trade — Ever since free trade opened up between the US and Mexico in the 1990s, trillions of dollars of goods have been going back and forth between the two countries, from cars to strawberries to MRI machines to underwear. But one major exception has been fresh American potatoes. Listen here

What's a moneyline bet anyway? — The online financial website Investopedia compiles an annual list of the top ten financial terms that drew the most interest from their audience. The 2024 list covers familiar concepts like inflation and tariffs, as well as more niche terms like moneyline bets and stock splits. The Indicator visits the highlights of 2024 in economic terms. LIsten here

Also on The Indicator: Why Netflix spent billions for WWE, The water mystery unfolding in the western U.S., and President Jimmy Carter's economic legacy

Stream your local NPR station.

Visit NPR.org to find your local station stream.

Subscribe to Planet Money+. Your support helps make our show possible and unlocks access to our sponsor-free episodes.

What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: planetmoney@npr.org

Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can sign up here.

Looking for more great content? Check out all of our newsletter offerings — including Daily News, Politics, Health and more!

You received this message because you're subscribed to Planet Money emails. This email was sent by National Public Radio, Inc., 1111 North Capitol Street NE, Washington, DC 20002

Unsubscribe | Privacy Policy

This Skateboarding Economist Suggests We Need More Skateparks And Less Capitalism

Skateonomics

The Value of Skateparks

“The Skateboarding Ethic and the Spirit of Anti-Capitalism”

Get Bonus Content

On Our Podcasts

Older messages

What America’s Top Economists Are Saying About AI and Inequality

How To Make A New Year’s Resolution

How The Holidays Could Be Affecting Your Medical Care

Dirt-cheap toys imported into U.S. can be dangerous

The Price America Paid For Its First Big Immigration Crackdown

You Might Also Like

🇺🇸 America's tariff future

It’s a new year, get a new savings account

Private Equity Is Coming for Your 401(k)

Elon Musk Dreams, Mode Mobile Delivers

Shaping inflation expectations: the effects of monetary policy

🌎 Another hottest year

Have you seen the Best Cars & Trucks of 2025?

The Economics of Logos

WATCH: 2025 Wealth Creation Playbook