What keeps business/people in the NYC area?

not only are you firmly stuck in 2003: "people that have people working for them want to see that the people working for them are actually working for them--and they want to be able to show, through physical gestures as well as written or spoken instructions, how to do what they want them to do."

but to jump from cities exist for a reason to nyc makes sense financially is hilarious.

I have to say, johnestock's words do ring true.

I remember getting into wall street books like barbarians at the gate and such in the early 90s. I then got a couple of books from the library (yes the library), one titled "the death of wall street" and another just like that. All on the new technology and you don't have to be anywhere in particular, and firms moving to CT and across the country and all that, bla bla bla.

The years afterward showed that there is some truth to the fact that concentration of people does breed something. Whether culture or community or whatever, there is still something to it. I'm not a socialogist, but there is a value in that. And, I also agree that there is a value in being face to face. I've telecommuted, I've had remote offices, I've been in different scenarios, and I know that live works in a number of ways.

I also saw two different companies I worked for/with move from the middle of a city to the nice and fairly near burbs, mainly because the partners wanted it... and there was a huge change in culture immediately and over the next few years. You got some old folks, sure... but they had trouble getting the new folks.

Now, thats not going to "save" NYC necessarily. We're seeing a decline, and we'll see more, but I do think cities will maintain strength. Although bubble levels is something else.

to repeat: no one is suggesting that cities do not make sense. of course they do. the question is the premium that is required to live in new york. if incomes are and continue to fall in new york and housing and all other costs don't fall to a more reasonable level, then why not relocate a business to places that are more affordable?

CC. I agree with you there. NYC deserves a premium, but going from a 6x premium to a 3x premium would still be disastrous.

As to premiums, I would argue that New York City is the only truly world-class city (with respect to available talent, amenities, transportation, etc.) in the U.S.--so don't compare it to Ohio or even Westchester or Fairfield Counties--compare NYC to London, Tokyo, or Paris. Look at the per square foot prices for real estate (both to live and work) there and I think you will see that on a global basis New York is very, very competitive--London real estate (in a city that shuts down at 1AM, if you care about that) to live at least is $2K per square foot--prime Manhattan real estate trades for $1-1.2K per share foot. Don't get me wrong--I know all about the "quality of life" surveys that put NYC way down on the list below Zurich, Munich, Tokyo, etc., but NYC is a place to make money, always has been, and it is still the place to do that--as unpleasant as the experience sometimes may be...

"NYC is a place to make money, always has been"---no argument.

"it is still the place to do that"---ah...that remains to be determined. yes more money than ohio but enough?

John, true... but London has tanked more than we have... AND the pound has lost much of its value against the dollar. They had their own bubble, too, possibly worse than ours. So using them for relative value might not really demonstrate anything.

Paris is no competition for high paying jobs, London has all of the EU locked up for the most part. Chicago and DC and Boston are much bigger draws for high paying finance talent than a Paris is.

Jeez this is addictive, should be doing work (!)... I came to NYC in 1989 FROM Boston (grew up there) because that parochial, clubby, in-bred network (did you go to BC? Harvard? why not?) is not a real meritocracy in my view... Agreed on London's bubble but the ratio of cost of living (London:NYC ~= 2:1) remains as both fall, and I love London but I do not think it is competitive with New York for most businesses, so why pay the higher cost?

Excellent article, citing New York number one overall: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f49cd1ce-64d4-11de-a13f-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1

New York is the only livable city in the United States.

My beach reading for today.

http://www.wired.com/culture/culturereviews/magazine/17-06/nep_googlenomics

The brains responsible for Google's advertising success are not too concerned with proximity to 'Madison Avenue,' but the "creative types" are the wondergeeks in Silicon Valley who are using engineering, mathematical formulas, and data-mining to build ad revenue.