Wednesday, February 05, 2014

Requiem for ‘The Washington Post’

Churn or burn at Pacific Standard magazine.

Theme: Brain drain and talent churn.

Subject Article: "Labour markets: Churnalism."

Other Links: 1. "Three more Washington Post staffers leave to join Klein venture."
2. "‘The New York Times’ Is Dying."
3. "If you love your most talented employees, set them free."
4. "Zero-Sum Creative Class."
5. "Walkability Boondoggle."
6. "Migration Is Economic Development."
7. "Washington Post's Brad Plumer, Sarah Kliff Joining Ezra Klein's Vox Venture."

Postscript: Why retaining talent (plugging the brain drain) is bad for the economy isn't rocket science. An economic cluster is useless if talent doesn't flow in and out of the businesses within that cluster. Inter-firm talent migration is crucial for innovation. Greater density won't help.

1 comment:

Myb6 said...

Churnalism article actually demonstrates where I'm not comfortable with your theory. The internal dynamics of the cluster create knowledge and networks, which then make inter-firm and/or inter-regional migration attractive. Like density, migration is a form of positive feedback. Thus, as for density, artificially cutting migration is harmful, but not because it is the sole or even primary source of development. If it becomes trendy, to me it seems migration is even more at risk of boondoggle than density, which at least has physical efficiency benefits.