Knowledge Over Space

The Seven Billion special series has been published throughout the year in National Geographic.  The December 2011 issue has a great observation from Harvard economist Edward Glaeser - -

"The quintessence of the vibrant city for Glaeser is Wall Street, especially the trading floor, where millionaires forsake large offices to work in an open-plan bath of information.  "They value knowledge over space - - that's what the modern city is all about," he said.  Successful cities "increase the returns to being smart" by enabling people to learn from on another.  In cities with higher average education, even the uneducated earn higher wages; that's evidence of "human capital spillover."