I spent the past weekend in two of my favorite cities: Philadelphia, where I taught Wharton Executive MBAs, and Boston, where I attended a wedding.
Over the past 25 years or so, the Boston MSA has done quite well, while the Philadelphia MSA has not. Among the 25 largest MSAs, Boston ranked 3rd in per capita income in the 2000 census, while Philadelphia ranked 11th. While neither area has rapid population growth by US standards, Boston has been growing more rapidly than Philadelphia. And while more than 40 percent of those over the age of 25 who lived in the Boston PMSA in 2002 had completed a bachelor's degree, only slight more than 30 percent of those in the Philadelphia PMSA had done so.
Yet the two cities have much in common: rich histories, great colleges and universities, large manufacturing bases that largely disappeared, some very beautiful architecture. The weather in Philadelphia is, if anything, better than in Boston; Boston has slightly better air service. Both cities live in the shadow of New York, although the shadow is probably darker in Philadelphia. I personally prefer the restaurants in Philadelphia.
But Philadelphia's impoverished neighborhoods have continued to deteriorate, while
Boston's have been gentrifying. The poverty rate in Philadelphia is also substantially higher than it is in Boston. My informal polling of students suggests that while those who go to school in Philadelphia enjoy doing so, they are looking to leave upon graduation. Those in Boston seek to stay.
Exploring how these differences came to be would make for an excellent book. Someone should write it.
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