I wanted to follow-up on my Chicago piece with another look at professional services. A question was raised as to the conflict between saying Chicago is a professional services hub, and that its global city rankings are too high when those rankings are based on professional services. A fair point. I think it depends on the nature of what type of professional services we are talking about. Saskia Sassen reminded me that global cities compete much less than is currently believed because they specialize in different things. So I wonder if … [Read more...]
Archives for July 2010
Chicago’s Structural Advantages (and Professional Services 2.0)
It's no secret that Illinois, like the rest of America, has been suffering in this economy. It also has the dubious distinction of probably being in the worst fiscal shape in America. llinois Gov. Pat Quinn appointed a group called the Illinois Recovery Commission to examine the state's future, who recently issued their final report. As is mandatory in this genre of document, the commission devoted a lot of ink to creating a "culture of innovation" in Illinois and putting it in the forefront of new economy businesses. Illinois may exists as … [Read more...]
Detroit – Urban Laboratory and New American Frontier
The troubles of Detroit are well-publicized. Its economy is in free fall, people are streaming for the exits, it has the worst racial polarization and city-suburb divide in America, its government is feckless and corrupt (though I should hasten to add that new Mayor Bing seems like a basically good guy and we ought to give him a chance), and its civic boosters, even ones that are extremely knowledgeable, refuse to acknowledge the depth of the problems, instead ginning up stats and anecdotes to prove all is not so bad. But as with Youngstown, … [Read more...]
The Specter of Autarky
Autarky, not to be confused with autocracy, refers to a policy of economic self-sufficiency. Generally, this is considered a bad idea. Instead, nations and people benefit when they specialize in areas where they have comparative advantage and engage in trade with others to satisfy the rest of their needs. While some have described the policies of China and others as autarkic mercantilism, generally autarky is out of favor in macroeconomics except for certain matters such as those related to national security, like defense technology or … [Read more...]
A Better Tomorrow
It's no secret the economy has been in a terrible state. How and when will it turn around? What will the future look like? When considering these questions, and looking at today's economic trials and how to get beyond them, it's worth a look back at how we got here. It was a three decade journey representing three major transformational waves that have profoundly transformed our economy at the macro and local level. The 80's were the culmination of the Rust Belt Era. The 90's were the Digital and Nationalization Age. The 00's were the … [Read more...]