The New Argonauts: Regional Advantage in a Global Economy

Like the Greeks who sailed with Jason in search of the Golden Fleece, the new Argonauts-foreign born, technically skilled entrepreneurs who travel back and forth between Silicon Valley and their home countries-seek their fortune in distant lands by launching companies far from established centers of skill and technology. Their story illuminates profound transformations in the global economy, and economic geographer Saxenian has followed this transformation, exploring one of its great paradoxes: how the “brain drain” has become “brain circulation”, a powerful economic force for development of new regions.

Speaker Details

AnnaLee Saxenian earned a BA from Williams College in Economics, a MCP from UC Berkeley in City and Regional Planning and a PhD. from MIT in Political Science. Her research asks how institutions and social structures shape patterns of information exchange and the consequences for economic development and innovation. Saxenian is the author of two books on the global patterns of technology development, with a focus on the skilled immigrants of the Silicon Valley.

Date:
Speakers:
AnnaLee Saxenian
Affiliation:
Dean of the UC Berkeley School of Information
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