Lead Essay

• The Future of the American Workforce in the Global Creative Economy by Richard Florida

  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 Science and technology, art and design, and culture and entertainment have superceded natural resources and industrial infrastructure as the key to economic success.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.

Response Essays

• Reality and Fantasy in Economic Revolutions by Robin Hanson

  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?

• Education and Inequality in the Creative Age by Frank Levy

  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.”

• Wealth and Power in the 21st Century by Edward E. Leamer

  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.

The Conversation

• Kicking off the Conversation: Reply to Comments by Richard Florida
• Innovators Aren’t Trying to Express Themselves & Squelching Creativity Is What Schools Are For by Robin Hanson
• More on Cultivating Creativity by Richard Florida
• Salary Caps: Good for the NBA, Good for Us by Frank Levy
• A Call for Institutional Innovation by Richard Florida
• Frictions Are Our Friends by Edward E. Leamer
• Price Caps and Sticky Jobs: A Dialogue by Frank Levy
• Florida’s Concepts are Overloaded by Robin Hanson
• The Weak Demand for Equality by Robin Hanson
• The Utility of “Creativity” by Richard Florida
• The Derived Demand for Equality by Frank Levy
• Bohemians and Gays Are near Ground Zero in the Culture Wars by Robin Hanson
• Mobile Human Capital and the Culture Wars by Richard Florida
• To Clarify by Robin Hanson
• Why Openness Matters by Richard Florida
• It’s Like Hurricanes by Edward E. Leamer
• More Than Disaster Relief by Richard Florida
• Places Only Matter Because People Do by Robin Hanson
• Immigration, Density, and Tolerance by Richard Florida
• Schools, Scholarships, and Work by Frank Levy