Why is the U.S. wealthier than Europe? Give credit to its cities. (Report)
Why is the U.S. wealthier than Europe? Give credit to its cities.
04/17/2012 By Brad Plumer Read More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...OfOT_blog.html Quote:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/ima...EeGrtIOZYQRVAA |
What a nice little ego stroke for Americans.
The U.S. is "wealthier" because it has the richest people on earth in Hollywood, Manhattan, Cambridge, Washington, and the Silicon Valley. The big bucks are made largely in the U.S.A. That's all there is to it. However, if you remove that top 3% of overachievers, the U.S. looks a lot more impoverished compared to other developed nations. Also, when will people get comparing one nation to a geographical region of many nations that have varying laws and cultures is not apples to apples? |
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All I can say to this is: No shit. As I've been going on about for a long time, the United States is so polarized that parts of it are essentially 2nd or 3rd world while other parts are like 1/2th world. This polaration is noticiable when comparing cities to rural areas, but even more shockingly exists within cities where you can go from some of the richest places on earth to some of the poorest places in the United States in a matter of blocks.
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^ Country vs country or country vs continent/geopolitical region? Hmmm.
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The fundamental flaw this report makes is US cities = metro areas, European cities = city limits. It's the same "Seattle is bigger than Rome" bullshit I've been railing against.
The report states that 80% of Americans live in "large cities" (vs 58% of Western Europeans) and that the US has 259 "large cities" (vs WE just 186). It states that New York is the world's second largest city (more like 11th) and will remain so until after 2025 and that LA will rise from 6th largest city in the world to 4th.:koko: http://www.mckinsey.com/Insights/MGI...global_economy |
inefficiency adds to gdp. it's good for the economy to drive two hours to your workplace. it just isn't any fun.
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Okay, I'm really getting sick of this stupid urban population contest. Who really gives a damn at the end of the day? It's just numbers.
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Quite a poor article comparing continents, or parts of, with a nation and with the diffination flaws Shiro points out well..
Personally I like that regardless of where you go in my Kingdom the options and conditions are the same - recreation, education, PT etc - and sure that comes at a price, but then again so does centralized cities.. There's no doubt cities are great for the economy, but so are rural areas with low land value where factories and manufactoring plants can be build - if we build that in Danish cities there would be no way the prices could compete with foreign competition, so we need the cheap rural areas just as much as we need the cities here.. and quite honestly despite the difference in US urbanity and land value I have a feeling it works the same way overthere.. |
America also keeps the spice flowing. It's the US that keeps global shipping lanes and trade open and safe. Period.
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They're not talking about GDP... |
Okay, if the report is bogus, then what alternative explanation do you have for GDP disparities? It's not just because of a few ultra-wealthy people; medians and per-capita incomes are also higher here.
So if the city premise is wrong, what's the right answer? |
americans move more. they move house more often, and over greater distances, and they move more in daily life due to sprawly cities and long commutes.
moving costs money and adds to gdp. |
"All told, some 80 percent of Americans live in large cities, versus just 58 percent of Western Europeans. "
They must be counting nearly all metropolitan areas as "large cities" in the United States. If we go by a percentile scale where the 100th percentile is living in Manhattan and the the 0 percentile is living in the wilderness in Alaska then the 20th percentile would be living in a place like Springfield, Illinois. Most people would not consider Springfield, IL a "large city". |
As far as i know, the European Union has a slightly higher GDP than the United States.
EDIT: Oh wait, nevermind. |
I have to agree with Shiro about the whole CSA/MSA thing---its not really apples to apples is it? More like apples and oranges.
Would be nice if the world had a uniform system for comparative purposes. |
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No Shiro this report use metropolitan or urban area for European city.
The two largest city named are London and Paris, not London and Berlin if city limits were used. |
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France alone has over 50 and this is by the INSEE method of 40% commuters. If we were to truely compare apples to apples and apply US Census methods (25%/15%) we'de end up with even more (maybe 500?, see how much GDP is generated in European "cities" then...) http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aire_ur...aires_urbaines EDIT- This is my quick estimate of Western European metro areas >150,000: Germany 80 UK 70 Italy 50 France 50 Spain 50 Netherlands 28 Belgium 12 Switzerland 9 Finland 7 Portugal 7 Greece 6 Austria 5 Norway 5 Sweden 5 Denmark 4 Ireland 2 Iceland 1 Luxemburg 0 Total: 391 |
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