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This may be a streetlight bias, but it seems (from a distance) that big US cities have more industrial specialization these days, with a big cultural weight.
by dalbasal 9y ago
This may be a streetlight bias, but it seems (from a distance) that big US cities have more industrial specialization these days, with a big cultural weight.
SF/SV for tech. LA for media. Houston for oil....
Is it as prominent as it seems?
- stcredzero 9y agoThis is a long standing historical pattern. Human Capital is very powerful, and urban concentrations of them create powerful synergies. The concentration of Cherry tree agriculture east of the Bay Area is another example. It's not just the soil there.
- amyjess 9y agoIt depends on the city. You mentioned Houston as an example. Well, Houston has a rivalry with Dallas, where I live. One thing that came up when gas prices dropped like a rock a few years ago was that Houston's economy also dropped like a rock because of how dependent the whole city is on oil, but Dallas was totally unfazed by the whole thing because of how diverse our economy is, causing some of my more crass fellow Dallasites to lord it over Houston about how much better we're doing economically and making fun of Houston for putting all their eggs in one basket (IMO, that was going too far: as much as I like to joke about how much Houston sucks, it's always just joking, and I'm not going to take pleasure in their unemployment).