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For the first time ever, the United States
is truly in danger of losing its most crucial economic advantage
-- its status as the world's greatest talent magnet -- argues
best-selling author and economist Richard Florida. Where
America was once the first destination for foreign students
and the last stop for scientists, engineers, musicians,
and entrepreneurs wishing to engage in the most robust and
creative economy on the planet, it has now become only one
place among many where cutting-edge innovation occurs.
Burgeoning global technology hotspots. The
outsourcing of ingenuity. Rising intolerance. A faltering
education system. Cities torn by inequality. Disconnected
political leadership. According to Florida, they all point
to the looming creativity crisis that is causing the decline
of American economic might.
In the groundbreaking The Rise of the
Creative Class, Florida introduced the United States
to the rules of engagement in the creative age. Florida's
3 Ts of economic development -- Technology, Talent, and
Tolerance -- took him around the world and back again, sparking
an international debate over the causes and effects of long-term
prosperity, development, and innovation.
The Flight of the Creative Class
takes Florida's arguments to the next level, explaining
how the same conditions that affect regional economic development,
talent exchange, and the unleashing of human creativity
play out on the world stage. He sees cause for concern for
the United States -- a country long accustomed to its comfortable
position at the helm of the global economy -- and pockets
of potential opening up from Sydney, Shanghai, and Amsterdam
to Dublin, Bangalore, and Toronto.
But the United States still boasts one of
the most diverse and creative citizenries in the world,
and Florida points out that if it can discover solutions
to address rising inequality, the global dissemination of
talent, and the inherent tensions of the creative age, it
will once again lead the pack. If only the rest of the world
doesn't discover those solutions first...
Richard Florida is the best-selling author
of The Rise of the Creative Class, which was awarded
the Political Book Award by the Washington Monthly
and named one of Top 10 Breakthrough Ideas of 2004 by the
Harvard Business Review. He is the Hirst Professor
at George Mason University's School of Public Policy and
a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
Before joining the GMU faculty, Florida was the H. John
Heinz III Professor of Regional Economic Development at
Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz School of Public Policy
and Management. He now lives in Washington, D.C.
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