Presentation at the "No Family Held Back" Silicon Valley Town Hall Meeting in San Jose, CA. April 17, 2012.

1. “No Family Held Back”
Silicon Valley Town Hall Meeting
San Jose, CA
April 17, 2012
Chris Benner
University of California, Davis
ccbenner@ucdavis.edu
Reg io n s a n d Cit ies
CMYK ROYAL PPC 234x 156 15MM BLeed
Reg io n s a n d Cit ies
9 780415 517812
ISBN 978-0-415-51781-2
In recent years,analysts have pointed to rising inequality in the U.S.as an underlying factor in both our social
fragmentation and economic underperformance.This book argues for the possibility of “just growth” – a
framework in which the imperatives of equity have been coupled with strategies to shor e up the economy – and
suggests that much can be learned from efforts to couple prosperity and inclusion at a metr opolitan or regional
level in the United States.
The authors use a nested approach that combines quantitative analysis of the largest 192 metr opolitan regions
in the U.S.with a set of seven in-depth case studies to help uncover the subtle and detailed pr ocesses,policies,
and institutional ar rangements that might help explain mor e equitable growth (or its absence) in metr opolitan
settings. In both their regressions and their nar rative,the authors point to the stabilizing eff ect of the public
sector,the impact of deconcentrating po verty,the growth-enhancing but equity-r educing impacts of having a large
immigrant population,the influe nt ial r ole of a minority middle class,and the importance of leadership efforts to
develop a shared understanding of r egional problems and futures amongst diverse constituencies.
Breaking new ground in its innovative blend of quantitative and qualitative methods, the book essentially argues
that another sort of growth is indeed possible.While offering specificinsi ght s f or regional leaders and analysts
of metropolitan areas,the authors also draw a broader – and quite timely – set of conclusions about how to
scale up these efforts to address a U.S.economy still seeking to recover from economic crisis and ameliorate
distributional divisions.
Chris Benner isAssociate Professor in Human and Community Development at the University of California
Davis,USA.
Manuel Pastor is Professor of Geography and American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern
California and Director of the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity,as well as co-Director of the
Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration.
www.routledge.com

2. 90
92
94
96
98
100
102
104
20…
20…
20…
20…
20…
Slow Recovery
US Quarterly
GDP
US Employment

3. 98
100
102
104
106
108
110
112
114
116
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42
Months after recovery begins
Feb-61
Nov-70
Mar-75
Jul-80
Nov-82
Mar-91
Nov-01
Jun-09

4. 0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s
AverageAnnualGDPGrowthRate(Percent)

5. 25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
1917
1922
1927
1932
1937
1942
1947
1952
1957
1962
1967
1972
1977
1982
1987
1992
1997
2002
2007
Top10%IncomeShare
Share of total U.S. Income going to top 10% of income earners
Including capital gains

7.  In 1992, only
about a quarter
of voters lived in
a county were a
presidential
candidate won
by a landslide.
By 2012 it was
a half.

9. 30
35
40
45
50
55
60
65
70
75
%ofpopulationgroup
Weekly Newspaper Readership by Age Group, 1980-2007

12.  City-Suburb income gaps associated with stagnation in regional
income and jobs (Savitch et al. 1993)
 Per capita income growth faster where poverty gaps and
segregation lower (Pastor et al. 2000)
 Income inequality associated with lower
savings rates (linked with financial and social
distress, including bankruptcies, high
commute times, divorce) (Frank et al. 2010)
 Racial inclusion and equality strongest predictor of
four different measures of regional growth (Austrian et
al. 2007)
 Relationship between equity and growth is
stronger in ‘weak-market’ regions than fast growth
regions (Pastor and Benner 2008)

13. Source: Fund for our Economic Future, North East Ohio
http://www.futurefundneo.org/en/~/media/Files/Research/2007%20Dashboard%20of%20Economic%20Indicators.as
136 Metro areas, 4 growth measures, 9 broad indicators with 38 different variables

14. total 64 64 64 192
best 13 18 33 64
middle 17 24 23 64
worst 34 22 8 64
worst middle best total
Terciles of Equity index
TercilesofGrowthindex

18. Diverse epistemic communities
 “Like-minded networks of professionals whose
authoritative claim to consensual knowledge provides
them with unique source of power in decision-making
processes.” (Haas 1992)
 “Processes of interaction (interpretation, knowledge
generation, action) often institutionalized when there’s
a need for repeated interactions over extended
periods of time” (Haas 1992)
Not just WHAT you know but WHO you
know it with

20. 0.0%
20.0%
40.0%
60.0%
80.0%
100.0%
120.0%
Employment Earnings Poverty Inequality
Silicon Valley West U.S.

21. $116,914
$141,194
$174,513 $162,552
$32,114
$41,147
$44,742
$33,115
$-
$20,000
$40,000
$60,000
$80,000
$100,000
$120,000
$140,000
$160,000
$180,000
$200,000
1980 1990 2000 2010
80th Percentile
20th Percentile

22. Source:IPUMSMicrodata.
Universeincludesciviliannon-institutionalfull-timewage
andsalaryworkersages25through64.
All
White
Latino
Asian/Pacific
Islander
$0
$10
$20
$30
$40
$50
Less than a
HS Diploma
HS Diploma,
no College
Some College,
no Degree
AA Degree,
no BA
BA Degree
or higher

23. 30%
39%
40%
34%
30% 27%
1980 1990 2000 2006-2010
Lower
Middle
Upper
$45,609
$96,143
$139,228
$66,047
Households by Income Level, 1980 to 2006/10
(all figures in 2010 dollars)

24. 9%
24%
20%
44%
-14%
99%
Jobs Earnings per worker
Low-Wage
Med-Wage
High-Wage
Growth in Jobs and
Earnings by Wage
Level, 1990-2010

25. 0.0%
20.0%
40.0%
60.0%
80.0%
100.0%
120.0%
140.0%
160.0%
180.0%
200.0%
Employment Earnings Poverty Inequality
Silicon Valley Raleigh Fresno

26.  Steady, collaborative regions producing long-
term success, range of patterns, with
institutional ties shaping common destiny
 Future will require even more
diverse, collaborative, regional, knowledge
communities to be successful
 Silicon Valley faces major
challenges, with growing inequality
and poverty undermining long-term
economic growth