My latest report has just been released by the Manhattan Institute. It's called, "Midwest Success Stories: These 10 Cities Are Blooming, Not Rusting." The report digs deeper into some of the themes I've highlighted here in the past (and also dovetails nicely with the recent McKinsey Global Institute report on the future of work in America). It's a look at 10 cities in nine states in the greater Midwest that are doing well economically and demographically even if they trail the performance of coastal superstars and sunbelt boomtowns. The … [Read more...]
Archives for November 2019
Talent Attraction Scorecard
The folks at EMSI, a labor market analytics firm, have issued their latest Talent Attraction Scorecard. They look at, among other things, the places that are gaining the most skilled workers. Obviously their ranking heavily correlate with population growth. What I found most interesting is their specific look at smaller counties and even "micro-counties" with a population of less than 5,000. Plenty of names you might not know but are worth checking out. Also, I couldn't resist posting the "This City Is Making a Comeback" bingo game that was … [Read more...]
Building Strong Towns
My latest piece is a review of Chuck Marohn's new book Strong Towns over at City Journal. Here's an excerpt: Strong Towns, the book and the namesake organization, resulted from civil engineer and urban planner Charles Marohn’s discovery that the highway projects he designed showed a negative return on investment. The local taxes generated by new road construction and expansion didn’t even cover the costs of the roads themselves, much less any other city services. Marohn calculated, for example, that it would take 37 years’ worth of … [Read more...]