New York is Losing its Prominence

Apparently, this is the conclusion of Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Senator Charles Schumer in a new CFR article, "The Shifting Capital of Capital". Too many reports are showing London as the World's financial capital. If you ask me, this probably has more to do with the fact that one British pound is now worth two US dollars than anything having to do with US vs UK regulatory practices. Don't tell that to Mike and Chuck though - they are blaming it on Sarbanes-Oxley and are proposing ways to lessen some of the regulations put on corporate America after the Enron scandal. While I agree that some of these regulations are cumbersome and could use reform, this is not hitting the nail on the head. The US dollar is in big trouble and we need to balance the federal budget in order to ensure that all US cities remain competitive in the next 20-30 years.

London Ranks as World's Leading Commerce Center

MasterCard released a new ranking of global cities, "Worldwide Centers of Commerce". The list ranks London as the top commerce center in the world based on the methodology below. Most of the methodology factors seem to be variants of one factor, "Financial Deregulation". Another factor, "Knowledge Creation and Information Flow" seems to stray from the crowd, but I wonder how the authors of the study quantify that score. Still, the amount of data and insight provided on the MasterCard site is worth a look. A full list of the rankings and a fact sheet document are also provided.

Research Methodology

* Legal and political frameworks (10%) - Degree to which legal and political frameworks enable the emergence of a Global Center of Commerce.
* Economic stability (10%) - Degree to which a Center of Commerce is handicapped by an unstable economic environment, currency, or unpredictable inflation.
* Ease of doing business (20%) - Availability of quality, cost-competitive trade logistics; level of interconnectedness; and ability to attract and retain talent due to a high quality of living.
* Financial flow (22%) - Measurement of the city's actual output or financial achievement.
* Business center (22%) - Degree to which the city intermediates the flow of goods, services, people, finances and information, etc.
* Knowledge creation and information flow (16%) - Degree to which information flows freely and knowledge is generated.