Tuesday, October 2, 2012

The New Geography of Jobs

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008035HQQ/?tag=dedasys-20

A good read, although I wasn't really too surprised by most if it. Indeed, despite citing lots of research, I found myself basically nodding along with everything, including his policy recommendations. The key point of the book is that innovation industries tend to cluster, with strong agglomerations getting stronger over time, and weaker places continuing to get worse, rather than balancing out. This is part of why 'innovation hubs' like Silicon Valley are so very difficult to copy. Policy recommendations are not new to anyone who has been "paying attention": improve education in the US, make it easier for skilled workers to immigrate there, avoid industrial policy for the most part. As for places that are currently "losers" like Flint, Michigan, he says to really go all-in on a 'big push' to attract some kind of innovative cluster if you want to try and go that way, but otherwise doesn't really offer much advice other than the implicit "get the hell out of Dodge". Good read, but probably more interesting for those who don't often read similar books and blogs. Noteworthy to me at least also because the author is Italian.

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