Perhaps seeking to put a damper on Independence Day festivities, an economist at George Mason University, Bryan Caplan, asks: “When has independence been worth the price?”

The question, on EconLog, is a perennial favorite of Mr. Caplan’s. He contends that policies in seceding countries, including America, rarely justify the human cost of wars for independence or, in the case of peaceful secessions, improve the quality of life for citizens.

Mr. Caplan challenges readers to offer examples of post-colonial nations that are significantly better off following independence.

In his latest iteration of the question, Mr. Caplan cites the mixed outcomes of former Soviet republics. While Eastern European countries have implemented successful post-Soviet policies, Mr. Caplan writes, “it’s easy to forget that there are many former Soviet republics that make Russia look good — most obviously Belarus and the Central Asian Republics. If they hadn’t gained their independence, they would probably be partaking in the economic growth and relative freedom of Mother Russia.”

A worthy objection comes from a commenter called “Kurbla,” who writes: “Independence is not about improving policy. It is about ending repression [and] domination.”

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“Why did Europe overtake the Arab world in the millennium between 800 and 1800?” ask economists Maarten Bosker, Eltjo Buringh, and Jan Luiten van Zanden on VOX.

The authors’ research suggests that differences between the urban systems of Europe and those of the Middle East allowed the former to grow more wealthy while the economy of the latter stagnated.

Government interference in local economic activity proves to be the crucial difference. An Arab city in the Middle Ages was a “consumer city” that was “heavily influenced by strong, predatory states that could, and oftentimes did, impose a heavy tax or military burden on the cities in their realms” in exchange for government services and military protection, the authors write.

By contrast, Messrs. Bosker, Buringh, and van Zanden write, Europe was home to “producer cities” that, independent of state interference, developed efficient economic systems that maximized wealth and growth.”

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Paul Kedrosky at Infectious Greed wonders what the history of Bolinas, Calif., can teach us about the future of cities facing high oil prices. In 1971, Bolinas passed legislation forbidding new water meters to tap into the city water supply. With no new water supplies, Bolinas stopped growing.

Mr. Kedrosky writes that a similar resource wall for gasoline will stall outward growth of cities. “Cities’ structures will change, with most hitting an ‘exurbification’ wall in 2008,” he writes. With tight gas supplies, residents living in outlying regions will not be able to afford commuting into cities for work.

He includes maps of municipal growth over time for cities such as Atlanta and San Diego, which have grown outward in concentric circles of new development from the 1900s to the present day. Mr. Kedrosky writes that these patterns will not be repeated in the future; instead, cities will become denser and more centralized.