The uninspired correspondent scratches his scalp, but dandruff and lice, not words, fall onto the blotter.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Economies of Agglomeration

Interesting piece on NPR's All Things Considered on the clustering of like businesses in cities and the economic rational behind it.

One of the points of the piece is that this clustering encourages differentiation. You either compete on price or you differentiate. Increased competition increases the variety of services and products offered which really just drives innovation. A functional large city really should be a place for innovation, even if that innovation is just an interesting design on a light fixture.

The Santa Fe art market sadly doesn't seem to follow this pattern. Why isn't there a wide variety of art here with so much competition? There has got to be a limit on how much native/folk/landscape art a small area can take right? It just makes the city feel that much more deliberate and sterile to me.

This also makes me wonder what negative/positive effects the internet will have on city life as people continue to shop online for products. Brick and mortar stores will never be able to compete with an online retailer on price so perhaps stores will only become more specialized and more innovative? That's a good thing right?

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