Fifteen Eighty Four

Richard Florida (The Rise of the Creative Class) wrote an interesting long piece in The Atlantic focusing on the shocks to urban areas as high finance crumbles. Will the big job losses mean that the center of gravity in the financial world shifts elsewhere?

For Dr. Florida, probably not. He cites Cambridge author Yousef Cassis and his book Capitals of Capital — financial capitals have really only shifted three major times, from Amsterdam, to London, to New York. The NY shift is fairly recent too. For Florida, the at-risk financial centers are those in less-populated areas with less diversity of industry.

In other words, look out, Charlotte and Sioux Falls, where banking plays a proportionately heavier role (instead of the 7% of NY jobs).