The Grapes of Wrath -- do-over

An article in the weekend Wall Street Journal (“’Youth Magnet’ Cities Hit Midlife Crisis”, 5/16/09) describes the migration patterns of some of our most prized citizens. College educated, single people between 25 and 39 years old are the basis for economic rejuvenation, high pay (and high tax revenue) jobs, and cultural vibrancy that make them greatly sought after. A study of these patterns reveals the top 20 cities which are the beneficiaries of this net, in-migration. Because these productive citizens are motivated both by climate and the “cool” factor, it is not surprising that Phoenix and Seattle top the list.

Question: what do Boston, Providence, Hartford, Portland ME, Burlington VT, and Concord NH have in common? Answer: they are not on the list. As a matter of fact, neither is any other city in New England, nor the top three megaplexes: New York, Chicago or Los Angles. No, these places are all donors of the young, cool, educated, productive workforce; not recipients.

How does one explain this phenomenon? There are many factors, but here’s something to consider – freedom.

Earlier this year, the Mercatus Center at George Mason University published an analysis, “Freedom in the 50 States: An Index of Personal and Economic Freedom.” This study ranks the 50 states in terms of social, personal, and economic freedom. The aberrant New England “live free or die” state of New Hampshire ranked first, with the greatest overall freedom, whereas New York state ranked dead last by a country mile. The other New England states (MA, RI, CT, VT, ME) averaged a stultifying 42^nd. The megaplex states (NY, CA, IL) averaged 46^th overall. The land of the free isn’t very much so in great swathes of the country.

How did the top-20 destination cities mentioned above fare? Two of them are in California (Sacramento and Riverside), a bow to climate and “cool” in spite of California’s 47^th place freedom ranking. The remaining 18 destination cities are in states whose average ranking is 15^th – much better than average. And the top destination state (Texas, with 4 of the top 20 cities) ranks 5^th. Hmmm – there may be something to this theory.

Recent news item – Rhode Island, with a total population just over 1,000,000 people, has about 400,000 people employed. Let’s put this into perspective. Imagine a prehistoric tribe of 10 persons including children and the elderly. The survival of the clan rests entirely on 4 individuals. For every rabbit snared, the 4 workers must feed themselves and 6 additional mouths. They must, at times, feel a bit put-upon and wonder if the others might at least gather some berries. In fact, they might just be tempted to pull up stakes and move to Texas.