Tomorrow is the day when the world’s tallest building, the Burj Dubai, opens in Dubai. Built during the global real estate boom of the last five years, it stands over 2,640 feet tall. (The Empire State Building is a paltry 1,450 feet tall—including antennae.) As Mark Thornton discusses in this essay, the competition to build the world’s tallest building generally seems to be a portent of economic downturns in the business cycle during the past 100 years. Considering that the country where the Burj Dubai was built is currently having a financial meltdown of its own, Mark’s thesis seems to be holding up quite well.

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A comparison of the Burj Dubai to earlier landmark skyscrapers. (From left to right: Burj Dubai, Tapei 101, Empire State Building, Eiffel Tower.)