Every so often, communities invest in the development of economic development strategies. Almost without exception, these strategies extol the virtues and opportunities attached to these communities, but ultimately conclude that employment growth and real estate values can be better supported if policymakers undertake a set of reforms, whether with respect to taxes, regulation, training opportunities and/or infrastructure investment.
California’s Silicon Valley recently engaged in such an enterprise, and rather than concluding that things needed to change, basically decided that what’s happening now is working. The Silicon Valley Competitiveness and Innovation Project recently analyzed a total of 23 indicators of economic strength.
According to the group’s estimates, Silicon Valley is already an innovation paradise, with 26 percent of the Valley’s jobs in innovation related employment, well ahead of Boston at 18 percent, Seattle at 17 percent, Austin at 16 percent and New York at 14 percent. Importantly, the study also concludes that the Valley has the highest level of economic mobility or the ability of a poorer person to move up among any of the nation’s 50 metropolitan regions.
