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The Flight of the Creative Class: The New Global Competition for Talent
The most valued workers today are what the economist Richard Florida calls the Creative Class, skilled individuals ranging from money managers to make–up artists, software programmers to steady–cam operators who are in constant demand around the world. Florida's bestselling The Rise of the Creative Class identified these workers as the source of economic revitalization in American cities. In that book, he shows that investment in technology and a civic culture of tolerance (most–often marked by the presence of a large gay community) are the key ingredients to attracting and maintaining a local creative class. In The Flight of the Creative Class, Florida expands his research to cover the global competition to attract the Creative Class. The United States was, up until 2002, the unparalleled leader in creative capital. But several key events––the Bush administrations emphasis on smokestack industries, heightened security concerns after 9/11 and the growing cultural divide between conservatives and liberals––have put the US at a substantial dis–advantage.
352 pages, Paperback
First published April 12, 2005
23 people are currently reading
465 people want to read
About the author
Richard Florida
38 books203 followersRichard Florida (born 1957 in Newark, New Jersey) is an American urban studies theorist.
Richard Florida's focus is on social and economic theory. He is currently a professor and head of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the Rotman School of Management, at the University of Toronto. He also heads a private consulting firm, the Creative Class Group.
Prof. Florida received a PhD from Columbia University in 1986. Prior to joining George Mason University's School of Public Policy, where he spent two years, he taught at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College in Pittsburgh from 1987 to 2005. He was named a Senior Editor at The Atlantic in March 2011 after serving as a correspondent for TheAtlantic.com for a year.
Richard Florida's focus is on social and economic theory. He is currently a professor and head of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the Rotman School of Management, at the University of Toronto. He also heads a private consulting firm, the Creative Class Group.
Prof. Florida received a PhD from Columbia University in 1986. Prior to joining George Mason University's School of Public Policy, where he spent two years, he taught at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College in Pittsburgh from 1987 to 2005. He was named a Senior Editor at The Atlantic in March 2011 after serving as a correspondent for TheAtlantic.com for a year.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
May 16, 2008
Other than the few interesting facts he presents, I find Richard Florida's books rather tiring and worn-out.
March 7, 2022
Utter trash, which demonstrates how out of touch - those who research and study economics, create new social/economic and political theories - are with the realities of this planet. They premise their thinking on the idea that we need and can grow economically forever but fail to appreciate that we live under the governing physical and mathematical constraints of a finite planet that is now also diseased by many ecological, resource and climate maladies that are together leading us to civilised and economic collapse by 2040 as calculated by competent, unbiased MIT researchers - among others- in the best selling book - The Limits to Growth, in 1972.
The end result - if an Arctic BOE (Blue Ocean Event)or another massive event does not get us first - then the extinction of the species and most other forms of life on the planet is reasonably probable in the near term.
Given the current global economic situations, we are well on target to meet this 2040 date as hyperinflation, pandemics, resource exhaustion, global warming, food/energy shortages, nuclear threats, national collapses, social unrest, currency/ stock panics, anarchy and more problems are evidenced everywhere - just as predicted by MIT researchers and other competent, professional scholars and mathematicians since the early 70s.
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To sum up, the author likely wrote this fairytale while visiting Disney Land and was perhaps also under the influence of some unknown externalities - for there is nothing in this propaganda that can help to reverse the path we are on - save an adverse worldwide event that substantially reduces the human population in a decade or so that would then rebalance the number our species back to what remains of our various key resource quantities. That event is nearly impossible to effect without wiping out the habitat.
Why do so-called economists attempt such pitiful undertakings when the hard facts and honest numbers indicate there are only enough non-renewable resources (oil, natural gas, copper, etc.) and arable lands to last humanity 20- 50 years? Who do they think they are kidding? The Invisible Hand? Are they insane?
Anyway if you want to entertain yourself with the musings of a bankrupt and disillusioned profession that still operates with and under the historic archaic theories of Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Paul Samuelson, et al - this may be just the childrens' storybook you have been looking for - a real stinker!
Too bad so much time and resources have been wasted here -as ironically it could have been applied more diligently, wisely and creatively - considering the real numeric constraints and short timelines we have before us. TM
The end result - if an Arctic BOE (Blue Ocean Event)or another massive event does not get us first - then the extinction of the species and most other forms of life on the planet is reasonably probable in the near term.
Given the current global economic situations, we are well on target to meet this 2040 date as hyperinflation, pandemics, resource exhaustion, global warming, food/energy shortages, nuclear threats, national collapses, social unrest, currency/ stock panics, anarchy and more problems are evidenced everywhere - just as predicted by MIT researchers and other competent, professional scholars and mathematicians since the early 70s.
,
To sum up, the author likely wrote this fairytale while visiting Disney Land and was perhaps also under the influence of some unknown externalities - for there is nothing in this propaganda that can help to reverse the path we are on - save an adverse worldwide event that substantially reduces the human population in a decade or so that would then rebalance the number our species back to what remains of our various key resource quantities. That event is nearly impossible to effect without wiping out the habitat.
Why do so-called economists attempt such pitiful undertakings when the hard facts and honest numbers indicate there are only enough non-renewable resources (oil, natural gas, copper, etc.) and arable lands to last humanity 20- 50 years? Who do they think they are kidding? The Invisible Hand? Are they insane?
Anyway if you want to entertain yourself with the musings of a bankrupt and disillusioned profession that still operates with and under the historic archaic theories of Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Paul Samuelson, et al - this may be just the childrens' storybook you have been looking for - a real stinker!
Too bad so much time and resources have been wasted here -as ironically it could have been applied more diligently, wisely and creatively - considering the real numeric constraints and short timelines we have before us. TM
July 11, 2025
High four to low five stars. Admittedly this is not the usual structural assessment of the age-old question of "why do economies grow," the idea of a creative class being something that suffers from having a colloquial meaning. Still, it is an interesting read, and the attempt at creating the creativity index is great - as the best use case of an index is to quantify a certain perception or analysis, which it does here. Recommendations are also generally sensible, though a bit pie-in-the-sky thinking.
July 27, 2024
Read my review on LewRockwell.com https://www.lewrockwell.com/2005/08/w...
November 5, 2011
Florida's previous books were about the "creative class," which includes a host of people in the (vaguely defined) artistic, cultural, and technical fields, and how they are defining the urban regional economic centers of the U.S. (major centers like Boston and San Francisco and regional capitals like Portland, Austin, etc.) with their emphasis on the 3 Ts of "technology, talent, and tolerance". It was a critique of socially conservative old-economy cities and a libertarian call for more social tolerance (of gays, immigrants, and mixed ethnicities) and more economic freedom for entrepreneurialism.
This newer book is about the global market for labor and skills, and offers Florida a particular opportunity to criticize the post-9/11 restrictions on H1B and student visas for the most creative and ambitious people from around the world, who now may instead end up in Sydney, Vancouver, or Amsterdam rather than New York. He's a big fan of places like New Zealand — whose Peter Jackson he admires— and says that small, tolerant, diverse, innovative countries like those in Scandinavia, Northern Europe or elsewhere have the prospect to leapfrog larger countries in economic development. He addresses China and India too, of course, but it's clear where his heart lies. Now, I like New Zealand too, but it's a boutique economy, not a powerhouse driving the world like a EU, U.S., or China or India could be.
This newer book is about the global market for labor and skills, and offers Florida a particular opportunity to criticize the post-9/11 restrictions on H1B and student visas for the most creative and ambitious people from around the world, who now may instead end up in Sydney, Vancouver, or Amsterdam rather than New York. He's a big fan of places like New Zealand — whose Peter Jackson he admires— and says that small, tolerant, diverse, innovative countries like those in Scandinavia, Northern Europe or elsewhere have the prospect to leapfrog larger countries in economic development. He addresses China and India too, of course, but it's clear where his heart lies. Now, I like New Zealand too, but it's a boutique economy, not a powerhouse driving the world like a EU, U.S., or China or India could be.
January 26, 2009
Actually I didn't read his first book, yet I still could grasp the concepts that he was proposing in this book.
The short of it is that the US will be hurting unless we make certain aspects of our nation more palatable to the "creative class."
His statistics on how the more creative cities, (ie, NYC, San Fran, Austin, San Jose, Los Angeles) are more unequal in their distribution of resources, housing for example. While those cities that are not attractive, and/or are dying, are more equitable in things like cost of living, etc. He brings up interesting facts such as these, however he doesn't really offer any solutions on how the cities that attract top flight talent can be made more cost-of-living friendly to the lower sector of the populace.
It's actually a problem all top flight cities face; London, Tokyo, Sydney are all prohibitively expensive.
The flip side, cities like Cleveland, Pittsburg, Detroit that were once in the vanguard of manufacturing now lose more people than they keep. What is to be their destiny? Not too bright, according to Florida.
He offers ideas that might help cities adjust, however I'm more pessimistic, and see the US losing creative edges to other competitive countries in the near future. I guess this is the great leveling some economists speak about.
The short of it is that the US will be hurting unless we make certain aspects of our nation more palatable to the "creative class."
His statistics on how the more creative cities, (ie, NYC, San Fran, Austin, San Jose, Los Angeles) are more unequal in their distribution of resources, housing for example. While those cities that are not attractive, and/or are dying, are more equitable in things like cost of living, etc. He brings up interesting facts such as these, however he doesn't really offer any solutions on how the cities that attract top flight talent can be made more cost-of-living friendly to the lower sector of the populace.
It's actually a problem all top flight cities face; London, Tokyo, Sydney are all prohibitively expensive.
The flip side, cities like Cleveland, Pittsburg, Detroit that were once in the vanguard of manufacturing now lose more people than they keep. What is to be their destiny? Not too bright, according to Florida.
He offers ideas that might help cities adjust, however I'm more pessimistic, and see the US losing creative edges to other competitive countries in the near future. I guess this is the great leveling some economists speak about.
August 9, 2011
What Florida has described in the early part of the book is just an advanced version of the "looking for greener pastures" phenomenon. It is the prerequisite for anyone who has been in employment, whether for themselves or others. I personally hope the powers that be in the US do not take into action Florida's proposed remedies for this supposed malady that has befallen the US. I mean honestly, do we really need another century of US domination in all things financial, economic, and technological and creativity? He has correctly pointed that there is no single country that would overtake the US in those terms but that it would take a collective of countries. To me, that simply means evening things out.
August 16, 2011
This book sheds light to the factors of the current globalization trend. I've visited Hong Kong on several occasions and saw it for myself, many job opportunities were present there, for foreigners who had the skill and talent. Most in America fail to recognize what time it is and have no true grasp of the fact that there is a global economy. Evidence of this can be seen in the recent downgrade of Americas credit rating and the effect that it had on the world at large... If it's a fault if Congress, it could be due to the talent that could of been in Congress, lost to opportunities taking abroad and now less than talented individuals have assumed office!!!
August 4, 2014
Desde Leader Summaries recomendamos la lectura del libro El vuelo de la clase creativa, de Richard Florida.
Las personas interesadas en las siguientes temáticas lo encontrarán práctico y útil: innovación, globalización, nuevos mercados y sus oportunidades.
En el siguiente enlace tienes el resumen del libro El vuelo de la clase creativa, Por qué la globalización ha traído una lucha encarnizada entre regiones para atraer el talento creativo: El vuelo de la clase creativa
Las personas interesadas en las siguientes temáticas lo encontrarán práctico y útil: innovación, globalización, nuevos mercados y sus oportunidades.
En el siguiente enlace tienes el resumen del libro El vuelo de la clase creativa, Por qué la globalización ha traído una lucha encarnizada entre regiones para atraer el talento creativo: El vuelo de la clase creativa
June 30, 2009
For anyone who thinks creativity is not important and that culture does not influence economies...
As good a thought jogger as its predecessor 'the Rise of the Creative Class'.
Richard Florida is charismatic, thoughtful and often misquoted. Check him out for yourself http://creativeclass.com/
I scoffed at the reports of the findings of 'The Rise' but then read the book - ah preconceptions! Then I heard him speak and met and talked with him and he is worth a visit - his books and his thinking - and him, frankly!
As good a thought jogger as its predecessor 'the Rise of the Creative Class'.
Richard Florida is charismatic, thoughtful and often misquoted. Check him out for yourself http://creativeclass.com/
I scoffed at the reports of the findings of 'The Rise' but then read the book - ah preconceptions! Then I heard him speak and met and talked with him and he is worth a visit - his books and his thinking - and him, frankly!
April 6, 2011
Very good ideas that are helping me think about my future on multiple continents. Very interesting to read alongside another book called "Daily Life in Immigrant America 1870-1920" that supports Richard Florida's data and shows the complete opposite trend in America. That is, immigrants coming to the Unites States so be educated, trained and work in the States afterward in more singular urban settings. Florida argues that not only are most highly skilled immigrants not staying in America to live indefinately but are also networking across multiple cities in multiple countries.
March 17, 2008
I like that you don't have to have read his first book to understand this second one. The book does a great job of considering past and current trends to predict future needs in business and education--specifically, that there will be an increasing demand for cognitively flexible people who can think critically, creatively, and produce innovation quickly. I think he should have spent more time considering education's role in this, but overall, it is a thought-provoking book.
February 24, 2025
In this follow up to his book “The Rise of the Creative Class” (which I haven’t read), Florida makes the case that the creative class, those with creative talents in the arts, sciences, technology, business etc are mobile and countries and regions with environments that this creative class don’t find comfortable and welcoming will lose them, and the economic growth they nurture, to greener pastures.
September 1, 2008
Interesting read. Great points, many of which I agree with. In short, the US is losing its creative elite, the people who drive a successful economy. The book is highly repetitive, and therefore dry. Sometimes a bit less factual than I might have expected. This can be good (user friendly) and bad (over-simplified and trying a bit too hard to be 'hip').
December 18, 2009
I didn't really enjoy the way this was written (I find Florida's style neither totally academic on the one hand nor totally entertaining on the other, so my brain is never quite sure which space to occupy while engaged in his writing) but total kudos to Florida for the content... I think he's got it nailed.
February 8, 2015
from the library
TOC from the WorldCat computer:
The creative age --
Creativity matters --
The open society --
The global competition for talent --
The closing of America? --
The new competitors --
Regions on the rise --
Losing our way --
Creative class war --
Divided we fall --
Building a creative society.
TOC from the WorldCat computer:
The creative age --
Creativity matters --
The open society --
The global competition for talent --
The closing of America? --
The new competitors --
Regions on the rise --
Losing our way --
Creative class war --
Divided we fall --
Building a creative society.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 21, 2008
Great insights to why certain urban cities are successful than others due to specific comman core "The Creative Class".
May 10, 2008
Florida is the it-boy of the civil service right now. His words are hanging off many lips.
July 13, 2008
An extension of Florida's previous work, Rise of the Creative Class. I recommend Rise over Flight.
November 6, 2008
Interesting book about economics and the futures possiblities. Tougher read though, but i am glad i got through it and it was well worth it.
January 10, 2012
I recommend for an interesting discussion on encouraging and developing the creative classes.
Read the full review at OurBookClub.
Read the full review at OurBookClub.
Want to read
August 16, 2007Recommended by Michelle Raines
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews