Las Vegas gambling on jobs following people at Pacific Standard magazine.
Theme: Urban growth and talent migration.
Subject Article: "Las Vegas’ tech sector has come a long way over the past year but still has some maturing to do."
Other Links: 1. "Do Jobs Follow People or Do People Follow Jobs?"
2. "The city startup: Tony Hsieh’s Downtown Project."
3. "'Young People in Omaha Are Able to Take Bigger Risks.'"
Postscript: The subject article makes a strong case for people-follow-jobs, demonstrating a disconnect with Tony Hsieh's downtown revitalization efforts. Fair critique or not, I'm still not sure what the people-follow-jobs approach would look like. After reading this recent post from Aaron Renn, I get the same sense of helplessness that Enrico Moretti expresses in his book, "The New Geography of Jobs." What can Las Vegas do in the face of economic divergence? A new post coming soon attempting to answer that question.
2 comments:
I can't get the comments section to work on Pacific Standard, so I'm just writing here...
Has a city ever tried to lure multiple companies away from the Bay Area all at once, to create the sort of company density hub that Moretti talks about? That is, can you move an innovation hub to a lower cost of ownership locale, gaining both the benefits of a thick labor market and lower rent/taxes/etc.?
Pacific Standard decided to do away with comments.
Like lure an economic cluster? Don't know if anyplace has tried, but doubt it is possible save stealing the anchor for that cluster.
An important part of Moretti's book describes the rise and fall of the Manufacturing Economy. When wages start to weigh heavily on profits, companies seek out lower cost places. I think we're at that tipping point with the Innovation Economy and luring companies away from Silicon Valley will be practical. Meanwhile, another divergent economy takes center stage, the Talent Economy.
Post a Comment