Reading Mike Wallace’s article New York, New Deal gave me pause. It reminded me how I wish I had more time to properly acquint myself with the mechanisms of our economic structure. I say this because, prior to reading this article, I was inclined to agree with proponents of the argument that New York City would be lost without it’s financial sector. Most certainly due to a lack of investigation on my part, I’d barely even come across an oppositional voice to this view.
Wallace brings up the point that we are keeping all our eggs in one basket; that is to say, we are extremely succeptible to fluctuations in the stock market, which was not always the case. As far as I can tell, this is true. So is his point about the grossly uneven distribution of wealth, which the financial industry undoubtedly helped create.
Still, I wonder whether or not it is feasible to drastically alter the structure of business in New York City as we know it. Apart from the obvious issue of a lack of space, would bringing manufacturing jobs back to NYC really increase economic activity? Or, put another way, would the downsides of having a less competitive financial sector be outweighed by the general increase in the standard of living (if that were to be the case, as is claimed) of the average New Yorker? I honestly don’t know. Hopefully, after I delve deeper into my economics major, I’ll let you know.
