By Carl Schramm
A battle of ideas about
how to save our cities has recently broken out. At issue is a popular
"fix" that revolves around inducing members of the nation's
"creative class" to alight in a given city and rejuvenate its
economy. A respected urbanologist, Joel Kotkin, has accused the idea's author,
Richard Florida, of selling snake oil. Florida says a city's future depends on
building something like an "arts district" where a young and rootless
post-graduate crowd can hang out and be innovative. Somehow new businesses will
flow because smart people have been attracted to town. Florida's point is
sound, in part. Economists have known for a long time that smarter people are
critical to the future economic performance of any location just as they are to
the success of firms that have relatively smarter employees. Human capital
makes a big difference. More smart people in any given place is a good
predictor of its future economic success. [more...]
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment