PHILADELPHIA, THIRD-WORLD CITY?
I’m reading an interesting book that explores if and how cultural values influence economic growth and social progress. One of the authors contrasts characteristics of healthy economies (order, hard-working people, openness to innovation) with declining ones (corruption, political favors, dependency mindset). These attitudes are both cause and effect. If they were just cause, you’d be arguing that some cultures are inferior to others when it comes to achieving economic progress, and that’s an unpopular and inflammatory point to make.
You’d also be at least half-wrong. Stagnant economies are not only caused by this kind of behavior but also help create this kind of behavior. For when the pie is shrinking it’s about getting as big of a piece as possible, even and especially at the expense of someone else, not about working together to make the pie bigger.
This contrast had me thinking immediately of Philadelphia. The perception about our city is that we are beholden to special interests. The reality is that we are a city on the rise, but sometimes I wonder if our leaders believe this. Their behavior, which consists of side deals and looking out for their own, seems to suggest so.
Whether perception or reality, bad things happen when a city’s economic engines are gummed up by political deals and rampant corruption. The people benefiting from the status quo don’t want things to change; after all, they’re benefiting from the status quo. People trying to the kinds of things that are good for a city, like start businesses and play fair and welcome newcomers, get fed up and leave. And those who were thinking about moving in decide not to.
The last one hundred years have proven that capitalism works, in terms of stimulating economic growth. Those nations who have embraced it and who have acted in ways to foster it have flourished, while those nations who have shunned it and who have acted in ways to impede it have languished. These principles of market-driven policies and social mobility and free flow of goods apply to the health and well-being of cities, too. In this regard, will Philadelphia be a city on the rise or a city on the decline?
I’m reading an interesting book that explores if and how cultural values influence economic growth and social progress. One of the authors contrasts characteristics of healthy economies (order, hard-working people, openness to innovation) with declining ones (corruption, political favors, dependency mindset). These attitudes are both cause and effect. If they were just cause, you’d be arguing that some cultures are inferior to others when it comes to achieving economic progress, and that’s an unpopular and inflammatory point to make.
You’d also be at least half-wrong. Stagnant economies are not only caused by this kind of behavior but also help create this kind of behavior. For when the pie is shrinking it’s about getting as big of a piece as possible, even and especially at the expense of someone else, not about working together to make the pie bigger.
This contrast had me thinking immediately of Philadelphia. The perception about our city is that we are beholden to special interests. The reality is that we are a city on the rise, but sometimes I wonder if our leaders believe this. Their behavior, which consists of side deals and looking out for their own, seems to suggest so.
Whether perception or reality, bad things happen when a city’s economic engines are gummed up by political deals and rampant corruption. The people benefiting from the status quo don’t want things to change; after all, they’re benefiting from the status quo. People trying to the kinds of things that are good for a city, like start businesses and play fair and welcome newcomers, get fed up and leave. And those who were thinking about moving in decide not to.
The last one hundred years have proven that capitalism works, in terms of stimulating economic growth. Those nations who have embraced it and who have acted in ways to foster it have flourished, while those nations who have shunned it and who have acted in ways to impede it have languished. These principles of market-driven policies and social mobility and free flow of goods apply to the health and well-being of cities, too. In this regard, will Philadelphia be a city on the rise or a city on the decline?
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