Bye, Creatives

By Barbara Kiviat

Richard Florida is the pop economist people love to lionizeor hate. Three years ago, the George Mason University professor (then at Carnegie Mellon) wrote a book christening the creative class: an expansive group of architects, engineers, musicians, nurses and even lawyers who drive economic growth in today's knowledge economy. Attract those workers, and companies will follow, argued Florida. Some cities, like Detroit and Cleveland, Ohio, took the theory to heart. In other circles, Florida was written off as a quack. (Consider the subtext: tax breaks to lure business are passe.)

Now Florida is back, and if you thought eyebrows raised last time, wait until you read The Flight of the Creative Class. Florida finds that competition for creative workers has gone global (no shocker) and that the U.S. is about to miss out on the best talent because of restrictive immigration policies, a lack of R&D spending, the culture wars and stepped-up competition from abroad (cue the maelstrom). Not only are Americans more likely to get sucked into such cities as Sydney and Dublin, writes Florida, but China and India are increasingly able to retain homegrown talent that in prior years saw the U.S. as the premier destination for a university education and career. Florida has adapted for countries his (controversial) way of ranking cities. On the Global Creativity Index--which assumes that creative talent, technology and tolerance lead to economic growth--the U.S. ranks fourth, behind Sweden, Japan and Finland. And to Florida's way of thinking, without changes, even that won't last. --By Barbara Kiviat