Madison, Michael J. --- "Contrasts in Innovation: Pittsburgh Then and Now" [2012] ELECD 548; in Carpenter, M. Megan (ed), "Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Evolving Economies" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Evolving Economies

Editor(s): Carpenter, M. Megan

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9780857934697

Section: Chapter 7

Section Title: Contrasts in Innovation: Pittsburgh Then and Now

Author(s): Madison, Michael J.

Number of pages: 45

Extract:

7. Contrasts in innovation: Pittsburgh
then and now
Michael J. Madison*

I INTRODUCTION

Discussion and analysis of law, public policy, and economic growth is
often predictive, and often national or global. Tweak a rule or doctrine
here, perhaps patent law or tax law or financial and securities regulation,
and anticipate growth there--in the United States, or in India, or around
the world. This chapter approaches the question of growth from a dif-
ferent angle, working backward from an example of economic develop-
ment to understand, if possible, what accounted for it, and focusing on
regional rather than national or global growth. My subject is Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, U.S.A. I offer a descriptive account of one city's and
region's work in progress in transitioning from Rust Belt collapse to Rust
Belt chic,1 or what President Barack Obama characterized as a "model for
the future" in its transition to a diverse economy,2 when he decided that
the city would be the North American host of the September 2009 summit
of the Group of 20 (G-20) finance ministers.3


* Portions of this chapter first appeared as a series of posts at Pittsblog 2.0,
a weblog, at http://pittsblog.blogspot.com, over several days in September 2009.
Thanks to Megan Carpenter for her interest in this work and to colleagues at the
Evolving Economies conference at Texas Wesleyan University School of Law in
April 2011, where a version of the work was presented.
1 See Tod ...