According to Richard Florida’s Creative Class theory, the new class has emerged. The new class capable of being the driving force of the economy. The high number of scientists, computer professionals and programmers, architects, engineers, graphic and product designers, entrepreneurs, educators, artists and musicians can guarantee a strong economic growth. Can it? Florida is using an "Creativity Index" to estimate the potential economic efficiency.
The Creativity Index is a mix of four equally weighted factors: the creative class share of the workforce; High-Tech Index; innovation, measured as patents per capita; and diversity, measured by the Gay Index, a reasonable proxy for an area's openness to different kinds of people and ideas.
(R. Florida, 2002)
Florida believes that these factors are correlated with economical performance of a given city. The cities with high Creativity Index can attract more creative and innovative workforce and as a result they can improve economic performance and gain substantial advantage over non-creative cities. We can spot a shift from industrial to information economy. The creative class is now a key economic force and companies and governments should do anything to attract them. But does this correlation really exist?
According to Florida’s critics, this theory is too much separated from economics basics. The cities with high creative index are actually doing poorer in comparison to the cities with lower creative index.
Although Florida’s book bristles with charts and statistics showing how he constructed his various indexes and where cities rank on them, the professor, incredibly, doesn’t provide any data demonstrating that his creative cities actually have vibrant economies that perform well over time. A look at even the most simple economic indicators, in fact, shows that, far from being economic powerhouses, many of Florida’s favored cities are chronic underperformers.
(Steven Malanga, 2004)
There is no proven link between indices proposed by Florida and economic performance, at least not in the positive way. The creative cities' economies are underperforming comparing to national economy or cities with low Creativity Index. This theory has emerged during dot-com bubble era and was based on the cities with strong technological industry, but today, years after speculative bubble has burst, these cities are not performing well.
Florida's survey were mainly conducted on American continent, but are there any Creative Class cities in Europe, and how is Celtic Tiger performing in comparison to others. Among 5 cities from Roland Berger survey which European cities were most effectively competing for the Creative Class and which have best laid the groundwork for the move from the industrial to the knowledge age, Dublin was on 3rd place along with Amsterdam. According to the survey the Creative Class workers constituted 36.9 percent of the total workforce in Dublin, comparing to the 1st place Copenhagen with creative workforce of 62.5 percent and runner-up Barcelona with 43.9 (Follath & Spörl, 2007). Ireland with its Celtic Tiger image and ambitious plans to become Silicon Valley of Europe has a great potential to become a strong magnet for creative class. There are definitely solid foundations in blue chip companies like HP, IBM or Microsoft as well as high number of higher education level students (Thomas Hüetlin, 2007). The future looks bright for the Creative Class in Ireland.
I can agree with Florida that creative class exists but, in my view, this theory is too idealistic and has no foundation in economics of the real world. We cannot base plans for economic growth on circular logic and indices vaguely correlated with economic performance. The economy is much more complicated to describe it through Florida’s theory and we have to take other factors into account as well to make correct decisions.
Sources:
The Rise of the Creative Class by Richard Florida, Washington Monthly, May 2002
The Curse of the Creative Class by Steven Malanga, City Journal, Winter 2004
Forget London and Paris: An Inside Look at Europe's Coolest Cities by By Erich Follath and Gerhard Spörl, Spiegel Online
Dublin's Second Coming by Thomas Hüetlin, Spiegel Online
Ireland could become Silicon Valley of Europe by Harry McGee, Irish Times
