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NOT CUBA, Miami's influence quickly stops in Cuba, however to the people living there Miami is quite influential for them and for the people living in Miami Cuba is quite significant for them (mostly due to families.) it is said that the reason Miami is what it has a lot to due with the Cubans, and I agree.
Most major US cities have some measure of worldwide influence, so significant is really a matter of degree. NYC, LA, DC, SF, Boston, and Chicago are all cities that have greater worldwide influence than cities elsewhere.
The first three shouldn't require much argument and are probably generally agreed upon, but the latter three might need some explanation.
The Bay Area is significant due to its large international communities that still have close ties to other countries, international renown through landmarks and tourism, Stanford and Berkeley which draw a huge and influential international crowd, and most importantly, the lion's share of US's public and private r&d funding in various areas that affect the world. Many of the companies based in the area have a huge international presence. There are plenty of metros with a good share of Fortune 500 or 1000 companies, but many of these companies have their operations catering much more to the US than the world.
Boston's worldwide influence is mostly from its universities (MIT and Harvard in particular) whose alumni have been and continue to be world leaders in political and financial spheres. Take a look at the list of MIT and Harvard alumni, professors, and affiliates and you'll see how incredible it is.
Chicago has significant clout in financial services due to its commodities market and also plays host to several large corporations that are focused on the global market (McDonald's, Boeing, Accenture, Kraft and its multitude of subsidiaries). It also has two major universities, Northwestern and University of Chicago, with the latter having been extremely influential (see the Chicago school of Economics) in the direction that national economies around the world have taken for better or worse.
^^ harvard political clout is insane.... everything I have been involved with for international nfp's or doing work international governments has some direct involvement with harvard or at least has a few harvard grads on their board of directors often from ksg. It is funny to me because often Harvard is viewed as so elitist of people who go there, but I could think of about 10-20 other universities where the graduates think of themselves in higher regard or put themselves on a pedestal and view their own memberships more cliquey and exclusive for some reason. 4 of them you named would fit that bill in my experience, nw, uc, stanford, berkeley.
Here is my stab at this fairly nebulous topic. The further down the list I got, the less certain I was of the choices. It is kind of hard to find a clear winner when comparing Mia to Phil for example.
Tier 1 and Tier 2: significant worldwide influence (comparable to Lon, Beijing, eventually Brussels)
Tier 1:
NYC/DC NYC- UN, Wall Street, media. DC- Not as famous as NYC or LA, but the capitol of the world's most powerful nation. Policy decision have global ramifications (monetary policy, trade , foreign policy). IMF, White House, military, the Fed, etc. Influence out of proportion to the scale of the actual city.
Tier 2: LA- Hollywood/int trade hub. IMO, the city straddles tier 1. Obviously, influential. But its source of influence (entertainment/culture) is less important. Michael Jackson/Steven Spielberg vs. Barack Obama/Ben Bernanke. Tier 3: not in headlines on a daily basis, but still exert significant influence overtime (Frankfurt, increasingly Brasilia, Seoul)
SF Bay Area- Silicon Valley, most innovative region. Culture: liberal politics, hippies, gay rights. Chicago- the city's influence is broad based, 2nd largest financial center, culture, edu, etc.
Tier 4/5/6: influential cities, but not necessarily "significant" (Munich, Bangkok, Santiago, Ottawa, etc)
Tier 4: Bos- Comparable to the tier 5 cities. But, its role as intellectual/innovation hub give it leg up, IMO.
Tier 5: Mia, Phi, Hou, DFW, Atl- big MSAs, large int trade centers.
Tier 6: Sea- major tech/ innovation center. Det- losing relevance by the day, but still a major econ hub.
Here is my stab at this fairly nebulous topic. The further down the list I got, the less certain I was of the choices. It is kind of hard to find a clear winner when comparing Mia to Phil for example.
Tier 1 and Tier 2: significant worldwide influence (comparable to Lon, Beijing, eventually Brussels)
Tier 1:
NYC/DC NYC- UN, Wall Street, media. DC- Not as famous as NYC or LA, but the capitol of the world's most powerful nation. Policy decision have global ramifications (monetary policy, trade , foreign policy). IMF, White House, military, the Fed, etc. Influence out of proportion to the scale of the actual city.
Tier 2: LA- Hollywood/int trade hub. IMO, the city straddles tier 1. Obviously, influential. But its source of influence (entertainment/culture) is less important. Michael Jackson/Steven Spielberg vs. Barack Obama/Ben Bernanke.
Tier 3: not in headlines on a daily basis, but still exert significant influence overtime (Frankfurt, increasingly Brasilia, Seoul)
SF Bay Area- Silicon Valley, most innovative region. Culture: liberal politics, hippies, gay rights. Chicago- the city's influence is broad based, 2nd largest financial center, culture, edu, etc.
Tier 4/5/6: influential cities, but not necessarily "significant" (Munich, Bangkok, Santiago, Ottawa, etc)
Tier 4: Bos- Comparable to the tier 5 cities. But, its role as intellectual/innovation hub give it leg up, IMO.
Tier 5: Mia, Phi, Hou, DFW, Atl- big MSAs, large int trade centers.
Tier 6: Sea- major tech/ innovation center. Det- losing relevance by the day, but still a major econ hub.
You must have been to harvard or something what a way to write really prestigious and elegant lol,
I disagree with the list though, but alright for the way you put things! well organize
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