State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

‘Smart’ Cities, ‘Brain Belts’ and Other Places Changing the Economy

The Wall Street Journal (online registration required): It’s easy amid the hype of a presidential campaign and frequent media reports of top-line numbers about the U.S. economy’s performance–gross domestic product, the unemployment rate, inflation–to overlook the people and technologies reshaping this country. James Fallows wrote about these remarkable developments in the March issue of the Atlantic. There are other powerful stories about resurgence, such as those of Rust Belt areas–Albany, N.Y., and Akron, Ohio, in particular–being turned into “Brain Belts,” as told by financier Antoine van Agtmael and journalist Fred Bakker in their new book, “The Smartest Places on Earth.”

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