Aaron M. Renn

All Things Aaron

The Vital Midwest

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Sign up for Heartland Intelligence, my monthly newsletter on what's happening in America's midsection. John Austin at the Michigan Economic Center is a long time commentator on Midwest economic issues, going back to at least his 2006 Brookings Institute report "The Vital Center." Austin is back with a new report, which could perhaps be seen as an update of sorts, called "A Vital Midwest: The Path to a New Prosperity," released by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. In a region with a lot of naysayers, Austin has been a consistently … [Read more...]

Scaling Superstar Cities

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My latest Manhattan Institute report is now available. It's called "Scaling Up: How Superstar Cities Can Grow to New Heights" and it examines the well-known problem of housing costs in coastal superstar cities. I argue that some of these cities simply forgot how to grow during the decades during which they suffered from external constraints (the Depression, World War II), followed by decades of decline. (Even the city of San Francisco lost population for three straight decades). I also explain why the average resident of these cities does … [Read more...]

Heartland Intelligence

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There have been some big changes for me. We relocated from New York to Indianapolis, where I'm doing consulting work for the Indy Chamber. I'm no longer full time with the Manhattan Institute but am still a contributing editor at City Journal and still have multiple projects in the works there. I'll continue to write for other publications too, as with my recent Atlantic piece on J. Irwin Miller and Columbus, Indiana. More on my move below. For several years I've published a monthly newsletters on cities that was mostly a roundup of the … [Read more...]

More on Columbus, Indiana

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I want to share a few additional thoughts on Columbus, looking at the question of whether things really could have been different in the Rust Belt with different policies. I believe the answer is Yes, with caveats. First, it's undeniable, as I've written many times before, that macroeconomic change drove much of the Rust Belt collapse. Rust Belt challenges spanned many different states, red vs. blue political environments, etc. It's also true that the Columbus model may not have been applicable or worked in the same way elsewhere, … [Read more...]

The Rust Belt Didn’t Have to Happen

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I knew a number of things about J. Irwin Miller, the former Cummins Engine CEO who financed Columbus, Indiana's world-renowned collection of modernist architectural masterpieces.  But when I read Nancy's Kriplen's recent short biography of him, I learned a lot I'd never suspected. Clearly one of the most distinguished Hoosiers of all time, among other things, Esquire magazine put him on its cover in 1967 saying that he should be the next President of the United States.  That was a pipe dream, of course. Even had Nixon not been the Republican … [Read more...]

Interesting Recent Studies

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There are a few recent studies that caught my eye. The first is an interesting paper from Brookings that is a proposal for an Enrico Moretti-style "big push" approach to boost innovation sector jobs in cities outside the superstars. It's called "The case for growth centers: How to spread tech innovation across America." The authors make the point that innovation jobs have been concentrating in America. They observe: Most notably, just five top innovation metro areas—Boston, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, and San Diego—accounted for … [Read more...]

Midwest Success Stories

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My latest report has just been released by the Manhattan Institute. It's called, "Midwest Success Stories: These 10 Cities Are Blooming, Not Rusting." The report digs deeper into some of the themes I've highlighted here in the past (and also dovetails nicely with the recent McKinsey Global Institute report on the future of work in America). It's a look at 10 cities in nine states in the greater Midwest that are doing well economically and demographically even if they trail the performance of coastal superstars and sunbelt boomtowns. The … [Read more...]

Talent Attraction Scorecard

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The folks at EMSI, a labor market analytics firm, have issued their latest Talent Attraction Scorecard. They look at, among other things, the places that are gaining the most skilled workers. Obviously their ranking heavily correlate with population growth. What I found most interesting is their specific look at smaller counties and even "micro-counties" with a population of less than 5,000. Plenty of names you might not know but are worth checking out. Also, I couldn't resist posting the "This City Is Making a Comeback" bingo game that was … [Read more...]

We Need More Family Friendly Cities

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My latest piece is now online at the Institute for Family Studies. It's a look at what it would take to make more family friendly cities. Here is an excerpt: In January, Malaysia Goodson was killed when she fell down the stairs at New York’s 7th Avenue subway station while carrying a stroller with her one-year-old daughter in it.  The baby girl survived but now faces life without her mother. The 7th Avenue station is one of many in the city without elevators. Only about a quarter of New York City subway stations have elevators. This not … [Read more...]