A closer look at the Big City exodus at Pacific Standard magazine.
Theme: Economic convergence and changing talent migration patterns in the United States.
Subject Article: "Bright Kids, Small City."
Other Links: 1. "Talent Geopolitics: Ironic Migration."
2. "Europe’s Economic Crisis Prompting Huge South-To-North Migration Within EU"
3. "Artists vs. Blight."
4. "MIGRATION PATTERNS OF THE HOMELESS POPULATION"
5. "Girls Watch: A Spartan Existence"
Postscript: I struggled with this post. It kept morphing into incoherence. I understand why people leave Los Angeles or New York. New is why talent wouldn't bother to move there in the first place. The half-baked idea hit me towards the end. The allure of Big City is mythological. The reality is a shock. Making a go of it is extremely difficult. The raw experience is filtering back to the talent feeder communities, impeding outmigration. That said, I could see leaving Harrisburg for Philly or Pittsburgh instead of pricey New York. I think that's where we are headed.
1 comment:
Interesting blog. I share your love of demographics and ec-dev. Having chosen to flee L.A. after high school go attend college -- and then live most of my adult life -- in Oregon, I know a bit of what you speak. I chose the place for clean air, clean water and outdoor recreation access. But I toiled my ass off in journalism, and now help my wife run a restaurant (at age 63), so am anything but a slacker in the Portland mold. We left PDX 13 years ago, to live an hour east in a small town closer to the outdoors activities we love, and took an economic hit as the price. Our costs here are the equal of those in Portland, but average wages are two thirds those in PDX. Lifestyle immigrants accept this, and embrace the portfolio career model, or start businesses, or take jobs paying less, and "deal." Sure, we have our share of trust-funders and slackers dragging their asses around at the wet end of a kiteboard rig, but we also have a bunch of smart, hard-working people who chose to not be in New York, LA or Pittsburgh because what those places offer is, in our view, so much less. It's not all about money, much as some might argue otherwise.
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