The Best Performing Cities In The World 2018-2022

 

Covid-19 transformed cities overnight. Offices emptied out. Shops closed. Remote workers fled for quiet, suburban lives.  A global recovery has been under way for a while, but it is proceeding unevenly, creating a jarring disconnect between urban centres. In order to assess their progress, we have created a rough-and-ready index. It looks at changes in four measures—population, economic growth, office vacancies and house prices—over the past three years. Miami, Singapore and Dubai make up the top three. San Francisco comes bottom of the pile. Part of the explanation for the diverging performance lies in how cities handled the pandemic. Those that did not go overboard with restrictions have benefited, sometimes at the expense of those that were stricter. Miami, for instance, has attracted disgruntled San Franciscans. But covid is not the only major development in the past three years. Increasingly fractious relations between America and China, along with Russia’s war in Ukraine, have transformed geopolitics—and altered the balance of power between global cities. Both Dubai and Singapore benefit as places where just about anyone can do business with anyone, regardless of their allegiances. Singapore has also sucked up firms and workers fleeing Xi Jinping’s authoritarianism in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Local leadership can make a difference, too. Miami has worked hard to attract financial business, with firms such as Blackstone and Citadel setting up shop recently. By contrast, San Francisco is a victim of the tech bust, and is expensive and sometimes dangerous, with high taxes and worsening public services. A number of shops have closed their downtown outlets in recent months. Locals seeking organic groceries will now have to go somewhere other than Whole Foods. A few deserted shops is one thing; masses of deserted offices is quite another. Perhaps the biggest challenge now facing all cities in our index, aside from Dubai, is what to do with leftover capacity as a result of the lasting rise in working from home. Cities including New York, Paris and Singapore want to turn the stock into much-needed housing. Much will depend on the success of their plans.  Also this week: Who is keeping the coal industry alive? After debt-ceiling negotiations, America faces a debt deluge. Will Japan’s stockmarket rally disappoint investors? Thank you to the readers who have emailed us. Please continue to send your thoughts to moneytalksnewsletter@economist.com.