A Vision of the Next Economy: From Macro to Metro

LSE podcast - lecture by Ricky Burdett and Bruce Katz emphasizing export economy over domestic consumption. The following hallmarks:

1) Export Driven

2) The Clean Economy ("can we play in the low carbon revolution as a market proposition?")

3) Innovation ("always been the catalyst of economic growth...not just whether we can continue to be in the vanguard of idea generation, but whether we can use ideas and inevetion to spur production and employment")

4) Opportunity ("we've had decades of slippage in opportunity, because as we shifted to a consumption and debt-laden economy, we began to see wages suppressed and income inequities grow... exporting companies pay better wages and offer better benefits")

"Going forward, if we don't produce more in the United States, we will innovate less. The U.S. needs to MAKE THINGS AGAIN, so it's time to discover our innovation mojo, not just at MIT, frankly, and not just at Stanford, but on the factory floors again, and in the voc ed places. America used to be a place of tinkerers, it used to be a place where the average citizen, in their garage, right, where so many iconic american companies started, invented things. We need to get back to that."

"We have huge educational disparities in the United States. This used to be seen as an issue of equity and an issue fo fairness. It's an issue of competitiveness of the United Staes, and it's an issue, frankly, of national security."

National govt should do some essential things: price carbon, invest in advanced R&D in energy at scale for a sustained period of time, invest in transformative infrastructure, overhaul immigration, invest in education and skills.

The next economy celebrates differentiation. Build on strengths. We are taking the principles of private sector business planning and applying them to metropolitan areas.

"The challenge is to invert the federalist pyramid in the United States, to move from a top-down system of federal policy or state policy to where the locals are leading, where the metros are driving, because they're the closest to the ground, they're the most cognizant and aware of their assets and attributes." (~1h3m)

First rule (1h28m): Know thyself. Wall yourself off from all those idea viruses, which one year is biotech, the next year is the creative class...just wall yourself off from them. Know who you were, because who you were is going to determine who you are going to be; build off your strengths.

AND: Stop development in the outskirts. Concentrate development. Land use planning is crucial.