June, 2006

Schools, Scholarships, and Work

by Frank Levy

June 21st, 2006

In the last two days, everyone has put up interesting posts and Will, the moderator, has sneaked in a few questions of his own. A lot to discuss but I will keep my responses short.
On Ed’s question—what’s to become of Vestal—I am somewhere between Robin and Richard. Ed grew up in Vestal just like I [...]

Read: Schools, Scholarships, and Work

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Immigration, Density, and Tolerance

by Richard Florida

June 20th, 2006

Great post, Robin. You and I agree on two things, both backed by solid empirical findings.
Immigration: The most powerful driver of economic development in small and mid-sized regions, as Rise of the Creative Class points out, is immigration. The other factors Robin and I have debated, the gay index and bohemian index, are important [...]

Read: Immigration, Density, and Tolerance

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Places Only Matter Because People Do

by Robin Hanson

June 20th, 2006

Ed asks if there is any way to save upstate New York. But first I have to ask: is it worth saving? Our allegiance should fundamentally be to people, not places. Economic growth includes changes in the distribution of jobs, industries, and regions, and part of the real costs of growth are the costs [...]

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More Than Disaster Relief

by Richard Florida

June 20th, 2006

Ed nails it. We need to be more concrete. I like his example a lot. I should: my team and I have actually worked a lot in parts of this region, especially Syracuse, Ithaca, and Corning.
I think we can do more than disaster relief. This is why I developed my theory and approach. I think [...]

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It’s Like Hurricanes

by Edward E. Leamer

June 20th, 2006

Rather than in the abstract, try tackling the following problem.
I grew up in the small town of Vestal near Binghamton, New York. The major industry of the area in 1900 was cigars, which left when tobacco fashion shifted to cigarettes and cigarette production was mechanized. No matter, by 1950 the Endicott Johnson shoe company had [...]

Read: It’s Like Hurricanes

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Why Openness Matters

by Richard Florida

June 19th, 2006

Robin, Thanks again for your thoughtful comments. The elaborations and clarifications in this dialogue are mighty useful. In that vein, one last clarification: My theory does not say regions “cause” hackers or anyone else to be innovative. It says instead that regions that have these “low barriers to entry” attract more potentially innovative people. As [...]

Read: Why Openness Matters

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To Clarify

by Robin Hanson

June 19th, 2006

Just to be clear, I don’t claim that Richard intended at any point to enter the culture wars, or to advocate for a political viewpoint. And as a theorist, I am not taking a position on the quality or conclusions of his empirical analysis. His argument combines empirical claims of certain observed regularities with theoretical [...]

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Mobile Human Capital and the Culture Wars

by Richard Florida

June 19th, 2006

This is good—really good. I like Robin’s persistence. He makes me think. And that’s always good. Let me take some time to reply.
First off, I think the passage Robin quotes from my book speaks for itself. There is a correlation between these two things, the gay index and the bohemian index and (1) innovation [...]

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Bohemians and Gays Are near Ground Zero in the Culture Wars

by Robin Hanson

June 19th, 2006

Richard writes:
When I say “self-expression” he says “bohemian self-expression.” … He says my concepts are “overloaded,” but in reality it’s his adjectives and modifiers that are really loaded. … I have no stake in the cultural wars. None, Nada. How many times, in how many ways, can I say this. I already [...]

Read: Bohemians and Gays Are near Ground Zero in the Culture Wars

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The Derived Demand for Equality

by Frank Levy

June 18th, 2006

I agree with Robin that Americans have little demand for an abstract economic equality. But that is not the issue. The issue begins with people measuring their economic circumstances against where they reasonably expect to be. For example, if you look at the May 2006 economic polls of the American Research Group, 52 percent [...]

Read: The Derived Demand for Equality

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The Utility of “Creativity”

by Richard Florida

June 18th, 2006

Robin’s fun. He likes to modify words for me and tell me what I think. Kinda cool, actually.
So when I say “self-expression” he says “bohemian self-expression.” When I say “diversity” he says “ethnic diversity.” He says my concepts are “overloaded,” but in reality it’s his adjectives and modifiers that are really loaded.
He says [...]

Read: The Utility of “Creativity”

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The Weak Demand for Equality

by Robin Hanson

June 17th, 2006

Frank Levy writes:
[W]e do a lousy job measuring the inefficiency (and loss of creativity) that comes from economic insecurity, stagnant wages, and shrinking benefits. There are many things we can do without turning our economy into the new France. It is about time we started trying.
If workers had a strong enough demand for more benefits [...]

Read: The Weak Demand for Equality

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Florida’s Concepts are Overloaded

by Robin Hanson

June 17th, 2006

Richard, I have tried to focus on more specific phrases like “bohemian self-expression” and “ethnic diversity” because they have more specific connotations. Unmodified, words like “expression,” “diversity,” “open,” and “creative” have so many associations that it is not clear that they refer to anything useful. You mention a person bored in [...]

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Price Caps and Sticky Jobs: A Dialogue

by Frank Levy

June 16th, 2006

One thing I have learned from this exchange: I have to write more clearly so I won’t be misunderstood even by people as smart as Ed. To help focus, I will write this post as Q’s and A’s. Choose anyone you want to be the questioner.
Q: Frank, are you really proposing salary caps [...]

Read: Price Caps and Sticky Jobs: A Dialogue

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Frictions Are Our Friends

by Edward E. Leamer

June 15th, 2006

I have been reading the interesting follow-up interchange between Richard and Robin, and wondering how I can add some value. Now that Frank has thrown the grenade of salary caps into an otherwise civil conversation, I have the opportunity.
But, first, kind regards to Frank, who made very extensive and very valuable comments on my [...]

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A Call for Institutional Innovation

by Richard Florida

June 15th, 2006

Frank,
Touché! I agree 100 percent. What I meant to say is that, left to its own devices, the Creative Economy WILL create this outcome. Right now we ARE living with this highly unequal, very spiky outcome. But I agree with you. It does not, and should not, have to be this way.
Institutions matter. [...]

Read: A Call for Institutional Innovation

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Salary Caps: Good for the NBA, Good for Us

by Frank Levy

June 15th, 2006

I would like to take the conversation in different direction. Earlier this year, I, like Richard, had a chance to read Ed’s review of Tom Friedman’s book where he, like Richard, worried about the possibilities of extreme income inequality in a post-industrial, creative class world. From what I can tell, both Richard and Ed are [...]

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More on Cultivating Creativity

by Richard Florida

June 14th, 2006

Robin, Thanks for your post. Seems like there’s much we agree on, and issues are coming more clearly into focus.
I agree completely that our education system was designed to sort people according to intelligence and diligence. And I agree about people wanting to be more creative. What I think is that people able to be [...]

Read: More on Cultivating Creativity

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Innovators Aren’t Trying to Express Themselves & Squelching Creativity Is What Schools Are For

by Robin Hanson

June 14th, 2006

Richard writes:
It’s not that gays equal growth, or that more bohemians make a place more innovative. Rather, an open culture, one that encourages and fosters self-expression, is a key ingredient in innovation, creativity, entrepreneurship, and ultimately growth. Open places encourage and foster new ideas. They attract new and different kinds of people.
I fully agree that [...]

Read: Innovators Aren’t Trying to Express Themselves & Squelching Creativity Is What Schools Are For

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Kicking off the Conversation: Reply to Comments

by Richard Florida

June 14th, 2006

Wow! What an incredible dialogue to be a part of. I could write all day in response to Frank, Ed, and Robin’s fantastic comments. But then what would I have to say later? I have to save something for the next rounds. And, anyway, the back-and-forth will undoubtedly be a great way to elaborate [...]

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Wealth and Power in the 21st Century

by Edward E. Leamer

June 12th, 2006

While agreeing with much in Florida’s essay, UCLA economist Edward Leamer suggests that the key to understanding the future of work isn’t creativity, but talent. “Is a personal computer like a forklift or a microphone?” Leamer asks. Forklifts are forces for equality, washing out individual differences in ability. Microphones, on the other hand, amplify difference in ability and talent. If training cannot create talent, but can only enhance it, the gains to training will be highest for the talented, and it will not be possible to close the talent and wage gaps by offering more training to the less talented.

Read: Wealth and Power in the 21st Century

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Education and Inequality in the Creative Age

by Frank Levy

June 9th, 2006

MIT economist Frank Levy agrees that creativity is more important than ever in a world where computers and foreign workers can do routine work less expensively than domestic workers. This shift, Levy says, requires better education in problem-solving. But education can only do so much. The gains from rising labor productivity are going largely to the wealthy, Levy argues. Unless policies and norms are reinstated that spread those gains more widely “all of the nation’s institutions will be at risk.”

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Reality and Fantasy in Economic Revolutions

by Robin Hanson

June 6th, 2006

In his reply to Florida’s lead essay, George Mason economist Robin Hanson argues that creativity matters less for economic growth and the future of work than Florida thinks. According to Hanson, Florida’s emphasis on creativity distracts us from the prospect of a truly revolutionary change to work and economy just over the horizon: rapidly exponential growth driven by smart machines. “An economy with intelligent machines could grow very rapidly indeed,” Hanson argues, “and induce rapidly falling human wages.” Will we be prepared if we’re busy making the Creative Class comfortable?

Read: Reality and Fantasy in Economic Revolutions

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The Future of the American Workforce in the Global Creative Economy

by Richard Florida

June 4th, 2006

In this month’s lead essay, Richard Florida, bestselling author of Rise of the Creative Class, argues that the old industrial era has given way to a new creative era. Science and technology, art and design, and culture and entertainment have superceded natural resources and industrial infrastructure as the key to economic success. Talent is now the key factor of production and winners in global economic competition will be those who can best deploy and attract it. However, the creative economy is a source of increasing inequality both within and between nations. Florida argues that the key to bridging the gap between the creative and service sectors is to harness the creativity of service sector workers to make their jobs both higher-paying and more satisfying.

Read: The Future of the American Workforce in the Global Creative Economy

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