The Rise and Fall of Urban Economies - Lessons from San Francisco and Los Angeles

In his lecture, Mr. Storper discusses his new book, “The Rise and Fall of Urban Economies: Lessons from San Francisco and Los Angeles.” This book challenges many conventional notions about economic development. The authors argue that it is essential to understand the interactions of three major components—economic specialization, human capital formation, and institutional factors—to determine how well a regional economy will cope with new opportunities and challenges. They argue that the economic development of metropolitan regions hinges on previously under-explored capacities for organizational change in firms, networks of people, and networks of leaders. By studying San Francisco and Los Angeles in unprecedented levels of depth, this book extracts lessons for the field of economic development studies and urban regions around the world.

Speaker:
Michael Storper
Director of Global Public Affairs, UCLA Luskin
Professor of Urban Planning, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs

Discussant:
Elizabeth Currid-Halkett
Professor, USC Price
James Irvine Chair in Urban and Regional Planning

Michael Storper (PhD, Economic Geography, University of California, Berkeley) is an economic geographer who has spent his career at UCLA, London School of Economics, and Sciences Po/Paris. Prior to joining UCLA, he was Academic Director of the Master of Public Affairs, as well as researcher at the Center for Organizational Sociology at Sciences Po in Paris. He holds an appointment as Professor of Economic Geography at the London School of Economics in every fall term. Storper is the author of more than 100 peer-reviewed academic articles and 12 books. A number of his articles are among the most highly-­cited in the journals in which they have been published. He received a "Doctorate Honoris Causa" from the University of Utrecht in 2008, and a Prime d’Excellence Scientifique in 2010. He sits on the editorial board of numerous scientific journals, including the Journal of Regional Science, Industrial and Corporate Change, The Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Studies in Comparative International Development, and Economic Geography. Storper is a frequent contributor to regional and urban policymaking for the European Union, the French government, and other international agencies. He holds dual French-­‐ American citizenship and is a fluent speaker of English, French and Portuguese.
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