TY  - JOUR
AU  - Glaeser,Edward L.
TI  - Reinventing Boston: 1640-2003
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 10166
PY  - 2003
Y2  - December 2003
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w10166
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w10166.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Edward L. Glaeser
Department of Economics
315A Littauer Center
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: 617/495-0575
Fax: 617/495-7730
E-Mail: eglaeser@harvard.edu
AB  - The three largest cities in colonial America remain at the core of three of America's largest metropolitan areas today. This paper asks how Boston has been able to survive despite repeated periods of crisis and decline. Boston has reinvented itself three times: in the early 19th century as the provider of seafaring human capital for a far flung maritime trading and fishing empire, in the late 19th century as a factory town built on immigrant labor and Brahmin capital, and finally in the late 20th century as a center of the information economy. In all three instances, human capital   admittedly of radically different forms   provided the secret to Boston's rebirth. The history of Boston suggests that a strong base of skilled workers is a more reliable source of long-run urban health.
ER  -