ABSTRACT
Throughout much of the mid-1970s, the New York metropolitan region demonstrated a textbook series of symptoms of urban decay: high unemployment, exacerbated by a mass evacuation of manufacturing firms; net out-migration; declining tax revenues, forcing local governments to the brink of bankruptcy; a steady exodus of corporate headquarters; a collapse of the real estate markets; dropping per capita income; and mounting consternation in the business community (Shefter 1985; Starr 1985). The crisis, however, also generated the preconditions for a renaissance and ushered in a powerful restructuring process currently reshaping every facet of the region’s economic and social landscape. In the 1980s, the transHudson river New York metropolitan region has experienced a remarkable resurgence to become one of the healthiest parts of the United States. Its unemployment rate is well below average; its real estate market has boomed, unleashing an enormous wave of new construction; it has compensated for its earlier population losses; and a variety of new firms, both foreign and domestic, have been attracted to the region.
