EDITOR’S VIEWPOINT/Report shows metro areas drive nation’s economy
No one – at least no one in local government – will admit this, but a serious competition exists between cities and counties on one hand and states on the other about which is more important to the quality of life in America. (On a smaller scale, the same competition exists between cities and counties, but for purposes of this column, we do not address that.)
Advocates of the states’ position argue that they are more important because there’s only 50 of them, consequently, each has a bigger voice. Cities and counties counter that they have a much greater effect on the lives of your average American. Periodically, they also run out studies that show that your average American likes them better. (They do this with the smug self-assurance that you usually find only in people like Kathie Lee Gifford and Donald Trump.)
The latest salvo in the Importance Wars was fired by the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the National Association of Counties with the release of a landmark report on the nation’s economy. The report, compiled by Standard & Poor’s DRI, states categorically that the nation’s metropolitan areas are the engine that is driving the current economy. (This may not seem like news to you; I mean, did you really think the country’s squash farmers were responsible? Still, the numbers are impressive.)
For example, according to the report, metropolitan areas account for 84 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product. They also are responsible for 89 percent of the nation’s economic growth from 1992 to 1998. (That translates into more than $2 trillion.)
The report also notes that the 10 largest metropolitan economies outpace the economies of 31 states. But it doesn’t stop there. U.S. metro areas, according to S&P, also comprise 47 of the world’s 100 largest economies.
Not surprisingly, much of the economic dominance is the result of the explosion in the high-tech and business services industries; 94 percent of each is concentrated in city/county metros. Largely because of that, metro areas accounted for 84 percent (14.3 million) of the new jobs created between ’92 and ’98.
The numbers give cities and counties new muscles to flex. The continued viability of the nation’s metropolitan areas matters not just to the Houstons and the St. Pauls and the Maricopa Counties that make up those metro areas. It also matters – or should matter – to the Maines and South Carolinas and Wyomings that are happily riding the economy’s coattails.