Does having a thriving gay scene help the economy? Research from the US indicates that tolerance of our gay population is a significant leading indicator for the future economic fortunes of a city. Given that Dublin is so crucial to the economy of the nation, by extension, the fortunes of the gay community and the fortunes of the nation are inextricably linked.
In the US, those cities with flourishing gay scenes are also the ones with the highest income per head, the most highly paid employees, the most creative industries and the best environmental record.
Why could this be?
The reason is quite simple. The types of cities that tolerate a gay scene are also likely to tolerate other sorts of non-conformists. And where you get non-conformists, you tend to get creative thinking.
In his book on ‘creative cities’, the American economist Richard Florida suggests that these are the type of urban, literate workers who give a city a dynamic edge. In a globalised world, where cities are driven by services and the entertainment industry, the lifestyle a city can provide becomes part of the economic, as well as cultural, armoury.
For cities to attract creative people, they need to have a cultural, social and environmental, as well as economic, vision. This means all the agencies that run the city subscribe to an idea of what the city should look like, not next year, but in 50 years’ time.
This is why all great cities have great mayors whose job is to drive the city forward. Does a vibrant tolerant Dublin need a mayor? Of course it does. Great cities need to be looked after – they need care and love if they are to prosper.
A successful city is like a well-tended garden. The gardener spends time and energy thinking about what to plant, what will flourish, what will allow others enough light to blossom and how the entire ecosystem works. It doesn’t happen overnight, but via a process of trial and error that takes years to perfect.
If there is no overall plan for the city, like an untended garden, it will grow wildly, before giving way to weeds that will ultimately choke it.
Last year, I worked in Australia for the mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore, under whose tenure Sydney has become more tolerant, more vibrant and an economic powerhouse, as well as a huge tourist destination. Working with a mayor whose job it is to market, promote and direct the city reinforced to me why a directly elected mayor with a vision is essential to harness the economic energy of this city.
The economic energy of Dublin is amazing. And this achievement is even more impressive, given that for years in Ireland, political and economic debate has focused on relocating industry and financial opportunities from Dublin to the regions. The rationale for this is that people and money accumulate in the city at the expense of rural Ireland, so it is incumbent on the elected representatives from ‘the country’ to make sure some of the goodies are divvied up more equally.
Yet Dublin and the major cities across the world are the dynamos of the national economy. Without the heat generated from cities, there would be no such thing as a national economy.
But there are serious new challenges for the city.
The first surrounds direct foreign investment. In the past, it was easier to locate direct foreign investment somewhere far away from the cosmopolitan centre because many of the old investments were factory-style assembly plants.
Now, however, when the new direct foreign investment comes in the guise of Facebook and Twitter, the lifestyle the city offers is crucial because so many of the workers are imported, as well as the company itself. These workers tend to cluster around each other, hang out in similar joints and experience the city in a similar way.
Here is where tolerance and experimentation come in. In the coming years, it is not our ability to import capital that will dictate the success of Ireland, but our ability to retain and attract creative people, both our own and foreigners. Brainpower will be at a premium and the city that can produce the lifestyle to attract the best brains will win. And if Dublin wins, Ireland wins too.
That lifestyle involves blending architecture, infrastructure and culture together. The battle is not between Dublin and Cork or Limerick but between Dublin and Amsterdam, Antwerp, San Francisco, Boston, Berlin and Paris.
Dublin is well placed. According to the ‘Financial Times’: “The Greater Dublin Region in Ireland is the best European region of the future for economic potential on account of the large amount of FDI per capita it has attracted, especially greenfield FDI projects in R&D. The banking crisis in Ireland does not seem to have affected FDI into the Dublin region; project numbers were up 15pc year on year in 2011. Investors in Ireland benefit from a favourable corporation tax regime; 20pc of FDI projects in the Greater Dublin Region in 2011 were classified as headquarters”.
We know that the corporation tax issue won’t go away. Indeed, yesterday, an OECD report called for more stringent control of tax breaks for multinationals. This, I believe, is a good thing, but the implication is that we need to offer a suite of reasons for investors to both come here and, as important, for Irish investors to stay here.
The Dublin experience has to be something memorable and this is where the treatment of our gay community becomes an acid test for lots of other things.
How we regard gay life here is a barometer for all sorts of other attitudes regarding a tolerant and ultimately creative city.
We have to build a city that talented people will want to move to and that talented locals will want to remain in. Part of this package will be an increased tolerance on the one hand, while preserving that which makes Dublin unique on the other.
Without care, attention and affection, this won’t happen. Is it time for a directly elected mayor with full executive powers? Yes.
The buck has to stop somewhere, and a powerful mayor of Dublin might just be the solution. There is no great city that doesn’t have a directly elected mayor with executive powers. When I see councillors playing self-preservation politics with something as important as the future of our capital, it saddens me.
From an economic perspective, the case is unambiguous. Dublin needs a visionary mayor. Let Dubs decide.
David McWilliams writes daily on international economics and finance at www.globalmacro360.com
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Ping
Will you be running then David?
David, you make excellent points about how Dublin should be run. But you touch on a wider problem, the rest of Ireland is suffering enormously in recent years. There has been a shift in attitude towards any and all investment happening in Dublin and the other urban centres only get to fight over the table scraps. I know you’re Dublin based, and clearly pro-Dublin but I would be interested in reading your thoughts on how the other 3 million people in Ireland are going to build their future?
An interesting article on economic and cultural ‘soft power’. The reality in Dublin? The recent smackdown between RTE., the Iona “Institute” and Panti Bliss. And the continuing covert influence of the Catholic church on Irish political and cultural life. This article could just as easily expand to trigger a discussion on women’s rights. Or St Patrick’s NYC parade under the control of the “Ancient Order Of Hibernians”. Enda presumably did his calculations about FDI ‘going forward’ before elevating his own take on “diaspora Irishness” above the demands of The Gays. I assume he looked at the sums and decided that… Read more »
Hi,
Good article.
“The reason is quite simple. The types of cities that tolerate a gay scene are also likely to tolerate other sorts of non-conformists. And where you get non-conformists, you tend to get creative thinking”
Gay people tend to be more creative also. It’s well known in military circles that gay men tend to make better soldiers.
regards,
Michael.
“white cargo” again,a brief excerpt “The Irish slave trade began when James II sold 30,000 Irish prisoners as slaves to the New World….His Proclamation of 1625 required Irish political prisoners be sent overseas and sold to English settlers in the West Indies. By the mid 1600s, the Irish were the main slaves sold to Antigua and Montserrat. At that time, 70% of the total population of Montserrat were Irish slaves!!Ireland quickly became the biggest source of human livestock for English merchants. The majority of the early slaves to the New World were actually white!!From 1641 to 1652, over 500,000 Irish… Read more »
alexanderhamilton,
are you comments meant to be for this forum?
To be honest David, a “powerful mayor” is probably hard to find or impossible. The culture in Ireland is that a Taoiseach has a lot of micro-management to do. I think it is only if a head of state takes their hands off the management of their capital city. I can’t see a powerful mayor materializing in Ireland.
@bamboo,
Yes, his comments are meant for this forum!!! Ever hear of the right of free speech??? The truth HURTS doesn’t it!!! There are some here in Ireland who don’t like to hear the truth!!! Are you one of those, Bamboo??? It sounds as though you are??
I hear what you’re saying but I can’t see how this “white cargo” stuff mentioned above is related to David’s article.
“IMF agrees loan deal for Ukraine”
http://www.rte.ie/news/business/2014/0327/604842-imf-ukraine-deal/
So that’s e27b in total for a country whose coffers run out in two months time and where heating bills have just been increased by 50% to compensate for Russia’s withdrawal of its fraternal subsidies. I fully expect Maidan 0.2 but without the media coverage this time, official policy, anti-EU protests do not get aired, yep, not a peep about Spain’s mass rallies this week, yep, so Ulraine’s ‘Made-In-EU’ implosion won’t get a look-in.
David is talking about ‘ Non Conformists ‘ being inclusive in an Irish society that is led by a leader and in this case ‘ a mayor’ .
Much of Cork became inhabited by non conformists from Cornwall that now forms part of that fabric ……the Palatines went to Co. Limerick ( from Germany ) ….the Hugenots went to the midlands and founded a university in that time there ( from France ) ( have you heard of Odlums and /Switzers ?)
Creativity can come from anyone .
I am afraid I feel like I have to ring the “correlation is not causation” bell here, could you write the exact same article starting like this:
Does having a thriving economy help the gay scene?
We are the Pride and Joy of DA (Dominica).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dgb9VV8mMzs
Stop moaning you priviliged Irish assholes.
The world does not revolve around this miserable, useless place.
Skinny Banton.
Adam, I gather that yu’re in a nice position now. Financially independent, a famiy and land in the Caribean, etc. Why are you still so uttery bitter about things back in Ireland?
Can you not let it go?
Good man yourself, Adam! If everyone else on this blog were to call it as you see it then things might just about to start looking up! Ireland is still rearing them and it will keep on rearing them until some people with a bit of cop on stand for election and then get elected!! If I were to be such a person then the first thing I’d do is to get rid of the mandarins in the Civil Service and put people in who wouldn’t be afraid of changing things for the better for everyone, not just the elite… Read more »
Character assassination indeed?! What a sham! Adam [not alone of course] doesnt basically give a toss what happens to Ireland now ,or in the future,as he has his own single serving agenda and his own ‘exit strategy’.” I see the world but as the world” Andy and this “well i’m ok Jack” , “i never had a loan in my entire life” waffle and attitude which seeps from Adam’s writing here, is of no use whatsoever to Ireland and its people…zero…zilch….and to add insult to that injury, Adam has the gall to refer to me as a “minion”…well not on… Read more »