The race (still) goes to wealth creation

Today's WSJ lists their "Top 50 Start-Ups".  Thirty-seven are in California, 30 in the north (Bay Area-Silicon Valley) and seven in the south.  Of the 13 in other parts of the U.S., five are in the NYC area; three in the Boston area, two in Bellevue-Seattle, one in Durham, one in Boulder, one near Dallas.

Living in California, I see plenty of abysmal governance; third-world class potholed streets and highways plus high-speed rail are at the top of my long list. 

But we also know about the power of agglomeration economies.  Where is the deepest and brightest labor pool?  I expect that pools of talent are found in many parts of the U.S.  But 60 percent of the top U.S. start-ups located in a cluster of three counties is eye-popping.

In the race between bad governance and wealth creation, the latter is still winning.  May it last.