How Did New York Do It?

Competition, according to Edward Glaeser:

In 1940, Pittsburgh was America’s 10th largest city. It had 672,000 inhabitants. In 2007, the Census Bureau estimated its population at 311,000. Detroit’s decline has been even more dramatic, from a height of 1.85 million in 1950, to 916,000 today.

Only two of the nation’s 10 largest cities in 1950 have more people today: New York and Los Angeles. The growth of Los Angeles is no puzzle. The city practically defines sun and sprawl, which are two of the biggest correlates of population growth in the postwar era. The puzzle is New York City, which — alone among the country’s older, colder cities — has managed to grow.

Read the whole article.