Comments on: The Density of Smart People

By: halten_Sie

halten_Sie — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 02:48:30 +0000

The data need be normalized by the population density for each respective city.

Dimensional analysis:

(degrees/area) * (area/population) = degrees/population

This would be a dimensionless ratio. Your data are given in units of degrees and inverse area which by itself is meaningless.

By: SwBratcher

SwBratcher — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 22:04:10 +0000

I’m with Joe Zuccaro on this one. His comment above sheds light from a perspective the author seems to lack.

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 18:48:31 +0000

First I must agree with many before me that formal education does not equal “smart” and neither has an impact on the ability to strive or excel in business. For those that have forgotten, Henry Ford did not finish high school, Michael Dell dropped out of college, and Richard Branson became an entrepreneur at 16. I don’t think anyone would argue these men are all captains of industry.

Next, we need to properly define Human Capital. It is more about the investment in the individual than it is about degrees and population. Human Capital represents the value of a particular or team of individuals to the organization they work for. Retaining human capital is a function of management and there is little relevance on the employee or their education.

I must completely disagree with the authors definition of economic stimulation and recovery. A true sign of recovery is when company’s must do more to retain their “human capital” for fear they will leave for other opportunities, and has nothing to do with the population holding college degrees. An electrician with 30 qualified mechanics, none of which hold a degree, has more human capital at stake than any financial institution employing hundreds of analysts who regurgitate publications and obvious trends to sound intelligent.

By: Cliff Lippard

Cliff Lippard — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 13:53:56 +0000

A quick and dirty calculation for Nashville using Census’ urbanized area boundaries and education attainment data returned a degree holder density of 424 per sq. mile.

By: Cliff Lippard

Cliff Lippard — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 13:24:39 +0000

Mr. Pitingolo is correct about there being problems with the comparisons. Nashville, Indianapolis, and Louisville are all metropolitan counties, meaning that their city borders include large areas outside of their true urbanized area. This would distort the density measure. I think to really compare these cities with others one would need to look at a much finer level, perhaps using census tracts.

By: David

David — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 01:34:28 +0000

Wil,

Lists like that do not prove a lot – of course, there are people that are going to be big successes regardless of whether they have a phd or dropped out of school in the 8th grade. Bill Gates wasn’t a blue collar worker who one day become an I.T. pioneer. He clearly benefited from his education, and did attend Harvard. Seattle has one of the highest rates of college graduation in the U.S. I’d bet that a lot of Microsoft employees are college graduates.

Once again, the macro point is being missed and individual cases are cited. In general, those with college degrees tend to be hard-working, ambitious, persistent, adaptable, goal-oriented, etc. The unemployment rate for college grads is 5%, HS grads 10% and HS dropouts 15%. Clearly the “market” values a college education.

By: Wil

Wil — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 20:41:28 +0000

One thing I have learned from being an employer is that college degrees are overrated. Take a look at this list of famous successful dropouts, it might make you wonder if dropping out is the key to success.
http://www.angelfire.com/stars4/lists/dropouts.html

By: justin kruger

justin kruger — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 16:20:39 +0000

This should be done based on commute time.

Density of intelligence based on a 45min commute. That should normalize across all geographies and map well to how employer and organizations recruit.

By: George M

George M — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 15:08:17 +0000

The places with the most degrees are also the places where for every one job opening there are 50+ applicants! (aka- the rat race!)

By: Deep

Deep — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 03:00:07 +0000

@Michael-Bellvue is a company town. It is really no different than towns in Central Pennsylvania that were controled by the coal companies. There are very little reason for people in other industries to go there. Why go there when everything is in Seattle or Vancouver? Microsoft is big enough to not have to be in the middle of everything.