Wednesday, September 03, 2014

No Innovation Without Migration: Breaking Convention

Michael Porter's cluster theory is modern-day snake oil at Pacific Standard magazine.

Theme: Innovation geography.

Subject Article: "Job Hopping: Driver of Regional Tech Growth?"

Other Links: 1. "No Innovation Without Migration."
2. "Industrial Organization Continued. The Concentration of Specialized Industries in Particular Localities."
3. "Clusters and the New Economics of Competition."
4. "The Pseudoscience of Jane Jacobs and Innovation Districts."
5. "Chile teaches the world a lesson about innovation."
6. "Job Hopping, Information Technology Spillovers, and Productivity Growth."

Postscript: Speaking of modern-day snake oil:

"The motor force of economic development is exactly what Jane Jacobs told us it was. It was the clustering of diverse groups of people in urban centers," [Richard Florida] said.

To be fair, Florida might be right about that. But we don't know for sure if he is. From the evidence I've weighed, I think he's wrong. Regardless, that's a big bet by New York City given the flimsy evidence in support of such an approach to spurring innovation.

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