The Geography of Inequality

The Rise of the Creative Class, Revisited is an eighteen chapter book published in 2012 by Basic Books and written by Richard Florida, of the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management and New York University. The author presents a revised and expanded version of his classic work, which pioneered the idea that our society is in the midst of a fundamental economic and cultural shift led by an emerging class of people, defined by their occupations as the Creative Class. He argues that human creativity has become the pivotal force at the heart of current societal change. Supporting his theory with substantial research and grounding his arguments in classic historical and economic thinking, Florida sheds new light on successful Creative Age companies and cities. Chapter 16, The Geography of Inequality (13 pages), begins the fifth section of the book, on class division in the Creative Economy. The author looks at the current wage inequality in the United States and if the evolution of the Creative Class has played a part. The metro areas with the highest percentage of the Creative Class have the greatest wage inequality, but these areas also tend to have higher wages overall. The author outlines his investigation into the causes of inequality in the United States and shows that the leading factors are unionization, race, and poverty. He argues that the Creative Economy isn't contributing to the inequality and that the wage gaps in creative cities are mitigated by the salary increase across the classes.

• Creativity
• Talent management
• Change management
• Finance and investing
• Innovation