A tale of two cities: how San Francisco surged forward while LA fell behind

For most of the twentieth century, the Los Angeles region had one of the county’s best performing economies. But now, incomes of those in the San Francisco Bay area outpace those in LA by a third. In their new book, Michael Storper, Thomas Kemeny, Naji Makarem, & Taner Osman take a close look at how San Francisco has thrived while Los Angeles stagnated. They argue that the Bay Area created an ecosystem of invention and innovation that allowed Silicon Valley to arise and thrive, even as LA’s industries remained largely siloed.