U.S. Economic Activity Split in Half: Look at Detroit (Ann Arbor: sales, 2013)

[newdixiegirl]

Originally Posted by Indentured Servant

I agree...however I think that the economy has been diversifying for a while now, but the gains of other types of jobs were more than offset by the losses in the manufacturing sector. If auto employment had been stable the last 30 years, people would have noticed the growth of other sectors of the economy.

Good point, IS. I'm sure you're right.

[jackmichigan]

Since the intent of the graph seems to be to show the top urban areas which contribute 50% of the Gross Domestic Product, some large urban areas are not included since they would exceed 50% GDP. However, I, too, am surprised that Atlanta doesn't show up. It would be interesting to see the underlying data. A downside of the graph is that is shows some of the unnecessary urban sprawl that afflicts the U.S.--particularly in the Detroit region.

[detwahDJ]

Originally Posted by animatedmartian

Charlotte is the HQ for Bank of America which is the 2nd largest bank in the country and supposedly 3rd largest company in the world as of 2010.

Portland is the HQ for Intel. Boeing is HQ'd just outside of St. Louis, and so on.

No matter how big the other cities are, the size of the companies that are headquartered there is what determines their GDP output.

yeah, but banks don't produce anything.

[Tekkie]

Here's another source I found on the Reddit link from animatedmartian.

List of U.S. metropolitan areas by GDP - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Detroit is still in the top 20, don't fret.

[animatedmartian]

Originally Posted by detwahDJ

yeah, but banks don't produce anything.

Pfft, tell that to the politicians.

[magellan]

I think the map maker screwed up actually. Atlanta and Denver definitely should be on there.

[Indentured Servant]

Originally Posted by magellan

I think the map maker screwed up actually. Atlanta and Denver definitely should be on there.

I think it was a permutation to come up with precisely half of GDP. Adding Atlanta and Denver to the list would be more than half of GDP.

[Tekkie]

Originally Posted by Indentured Servant

I think it was a permutation to come up with precisely half of GDP. Adding Atlanta and Denver to the list would be more than half of GDP.

So it leads me to the question: Why did the metros that were displayed get displayed? I'd be curious to know if the "creator" of the map was just randomly selecting metros to display. Clearly, there are some cities that should more appropriately be listed than others (i.e. Atlanta over Charlotte, Denver over Portland). Why did some cities get chosen over others? Additionally, what is the point of creating such an anomalous graphic?

[313Weather]

Originally Posted by Tekkie

I don't disagree with the graph. However, I do question why Metro Detroit looks much different (economically) than the other metro areas represented.

Agreed.

[Indentured Servant]

Originally Posted by Tekkie

So it leads me to the question: Why did the metros that were displayed get displayed? I'd be curious to know if the "creator" of the map was just randomly selecting metros to display. Clearly, there are some cities that should more appropriately be listed than others (i.e. Atlanta over Charlotte, Denver over Portland). Why did some cities get chosen over others? Additionally, what is the point of creating such an anomalous graphic?

I can don't know......what I do know is that the map presented included DETROIT.....which is good enough for me