I don't buy your arguments. I see no evidence that Boston and New York were any more diversified than cities such as Baltimore, St. Louis, Cleveland, or New Ha

I don't buy your arguments. I see no evidence that Boston and New York were any more diversified than cities such as Baltimore, St. Louis, Cleveland, or New Haven. Baltimore and Philadelphia had industries rise and fall for centuries. But both are now a wreck. Why? Economic change and transformation is nothing new. Why did so many American cities fall apart at exactly the same time? The diversification argument simply does not pass the smell test. I think the strength of New York and Boston are due to a couple factors 1) crime never passed a certain tipping point at which most of the productive citizens left and 2) they both are traditional homes of industries that have done well the past thirty years ( finance and education). See my previous comment for the reasons why finance has outperformed manufacturing, - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=657765 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=657765