Is there a Brain Belt?

New America Foundation : "The U.S. Brain Belt": "What used to be known as the nation's Grain Belt is increasingly becoming our Brain Belt. New York City, San Jose, and Los Angeles still provide most of our cultural content and many of the most prized innovations. But more and more, the country's competitive edge in practical economics this century will come from previously unlikely places like Sioux Falls, Des Moines, and Fargo. "

Joel Kotkin's article is really interesting, though I find myself healthily skeptical. There of course must be data available that would support or dispute the results that he displays, and it would be interesting to look into it. He points out anecdotal data regarding population shifts away from places like Massachusetts and while other locales like North Dakota have increases.

It is interesting to consider how this interplays with Richard Florida's creative class ideas, where places like Austin and San Francisco rule. One interesting differentiation is Florida's and Kotkin's understandings about physical place and amenities. Florida if I recall correctly really focuses on the energy and synergy of exciting urban centers, with high tech clusters reinforcing each other, creative energy of all types abounding, tolerant & diverse people interplaying in generative ways, and amenities like organically-developed quality neighborhoods and parks. Kotkin here argues for the increasing success of the "Brain Belt," positing that there is a strong work ethic of people from areas that were formerly farm-based, highlights the affordability of small cities and their family-friendliness, and the benefits of locating in religious areas, discussing the "Mormon Belt" as an example.

Of note, many of the firms that Kotkin describes as settling in the "Brain Belt" are those "concentrated in fields like software support, which puts them in direct competition with Indian companies. American entrepreneurs have discovered it is far more feasible to compete with offshore firms from a low cost, low regulation environment than from the traditional tech centers." It's interesting to consider whether these companies are competing for the more routinized aspects of high tech, compared with the realm of super-creative innovation such as software development. But Kotkin's initial example does focus on software development in Fargo by a company later acquired by Microsoft.

Anyhow, it would be great if struggling small cities in the Midwest could find tech-related niches that work for them and allow their communities to thrive. And it's not that his theories can't coexist with Florida's creative class ideas, but there are political undertones that move both men's concepts. Florida is different from many other economic theorists because of his focus on tolerance in addition to the usual talent and technology criteria as primary drivers of creativity, though he claims to be politically fairly centrist (I remember reading something by Florida about being socially liberal and fiscally conservative and having served under both major political parties in the U.S.) While Kotkin briefly mentions the value of immigrants in adding to the country's human capital, he is much more focused on areas that I read as the catch-all conservative concept of "traditional family values." Phrases like the following recur:

"character of the people"

"younger people interested in buying a home or raising a family"

"the very character of people in this religious, family-centered region, where politeness, education, a focus on marriage and children, and a search for balance between job and family are commonplace"

While one could argue that there's nothing wrong with a family orientation, it seems impossible to separate it from the traditionalists' agenda which really dominates a lot of the public discourse on social life and culture wars in the United States. When I read the piece, especially with its presentation of India in opposition to the Midwest, coupled with the focus on Mormons and cities/states that I would conjecture are extremely white, I can't help but feel like there's a very particular, narrow, racialized image of family that is being offered as beneficial for economic development.

I do acknowledge that my immediate reaction is to be critical of the article because of my political beliefs. This piece I found by clicking through the New America Foundation website, but the article is in this month's issue of the American Enterprise, a publication of AEI. From American Enterprise's own site:

The American Enterprise: About TAE: "Thousands of conservative activists, local leaders, congressmen, state and federal judges, writers, researchers, military officers, and business executives read us... Lots of non-conservative readers enjoy and respect us too (sometimes with one eyebrow raised). "

I think that my eyebrow is right to be raised.



I initially posted this entry this morning and have reworked this piece a bit after lunch. Your feedback is welcome.