The knowledge, talent, and ideas that power urban economies do not emerge out of thin air: They are shaped and organized by great research universities. Universities have long played a role in educating people and contributing to a more civilized, tolerant, and democratic society. And in more recent decades, research universities like Stanford and MIT have been credited with helping spur the development of tech clusters in the Bay Area and around Boston. But today, universities play an even more central role as catalysts in the development of advanced urban economies.
A new study by economists at the London School of Economics details just how a big a role universities play in urban economic development. It finds that universities themselves, rather than the innovation or human capital they help produce, actually have a demonstrable impact on economic output, and, even more interestingly, on democratic values.
