Originally appeared July 4, 2001, in the Chicago Free Press.
IF YOU ARE A GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL who wants to promote business and economic development in your city or region, particularly high technology development, the most important thing you can do is create conditions that attract a large number of gays.
That is the fascinating conclusion of a new study, "Technology and Tolerance: The importance of Diversity to High-Technology Growth" by Richard Florida and Gary Gates, published in June by the Brookings Institution.
The argument is relatively simple and straightforward.
Although gay men are disproportionately employed in high-tech industries, gays themselves do not necessarily directly cause high tech business development.
But rather, the presence of gays in an urban area is the most reliable measure, the most sensitive barometer, of an open-minded and creative social atmosphere that draws the highly talented people high tech companies typically seek as employees:
"They (gays) signal a diverse and progressive environment that fosters the creativity and innovation necessary for success in high tech industry."
Thus, alluding to the old coal miners' practice of taking a canary along into a coal mine because of its high sensitivity to toxic coal gases, Florida and Gates call gays "the canaries of the knowledge economy."
Secondarily, because gays often have the disposable income to take advantage of recreational and entertainment offerings and migrate to where they are available, the presence of gays provides a good indicator for the existence of a broad spectrum of lifestyle amenities attractive to other adults.
These observations have an obvious intuitive appeal once you think about them, but is there any way to test them empirically?
There is.
Using 1990 census data on the number of same-sex partners, Florida and Gates developed a "Gay Index" that measured the over or under-representation of gay male couples in an urban area relative to the area's overall population.
Then they compared those figures to a Milken Institute Index designed to measure high-tech industry concentration and growth.
What they found was that urban areas with a high proportion of gays were heavily represented among areas with a high tech business concentration:
The five urban areas with the highest concentration of gay couples were all among the nation's top 15 high-technology areas: San Francisco/San Jose, Washington, Austin (Texas), Atlanta, and San Diego.
And 11 of the top 15 high-technology areas also appeared in the 15 urban areas with the highest proportion of gays.
Further, "Gays not only predict the concentration of high-tech industry, they are also a predictor of its growth. Five of the cities that rank in the top ten for high-technology growth from 1990 to 1998 rank in the top ten for the Gay Index."
Although Florida and Gates agree that some connection between gays and high tech presence may result from their over-representation in the industry, they wryly comment, "it seems difficult to explain how their over-representation would predict (high tech) growth.
"To do so," the observe, "would be to suggest that gays and lesbians are somehow on average more productive or entrepreneurial than their heterosexual counterparts."
Although they relegate this comment to a footnote, they pointedly they say nothing to rule it out as a contributing factor.
Florida and Gates report that they looked at a number of other factors traditionally considered to draw a talented labor pool including climate, professional sports teams, arts and culture, etc., but found only loose correlations with those.
But three "diversity" indexes were far better correlates of high tech presence - the Gay Index, a "Bohemian Index" of writers, artists, and other creative types, and a "Foreign Born" Index.
Of these "the Gay Index does better than other individual measures of social and cultural diversity as a predictor of high-tech location."
Florida and Gates reason as follows:
People in technology businesses are drawn to places known for a diversity of thought and open-mindedness as indicated by their ethnic and social diversity. It is this talented labor pool that draws high tech companies and stimulates high tech growth.
They quote Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina who told a conference of state governors, "Keep your tax incentives and highway interchanges. We will go where the highly skilled people are."
Accordingly, Florida and Gates say, cities must begin to combine their goal of providing a better business environment with strategies aimed at improving their diversity and tolerance.
As an example of what they recommend, they cite Austin, Texas, Mayor Kirk Watson who explained, "Austin has benefited from a convergence between technology and our laid back, progressive, creative lifestyle, and music scene. ...
"The key is that we continue to preserve the lifestyle and diversity which enables us to lure companies and people from places like Silicon Valley."
Gary Gates says that he and Florida expect to have a report completed by the end of the summer comparing the 1990 and 2000 census figures.
On the Web: Brookings Institution: "Technology and Tolerance"
Editor's Note: As of March 2002, Gates informed me that the paper examining high technology, diversity, human capital, and employment growth from 1990 to 2000 is still in process. We will add a further note here when it becomes available.