A quick note on why its important to split the economic and political centres.
Usually, countries have a natural split between these two centres … for example, the DC-NYC corridor, Beijing and Shanghai, Berlin and Frankfurt.
However, I noticed that some countries and more importantly institutions locate both in the same place… for example, Abu Dhabi and London are two clear examples of where the political and economic centres are both in the same place. Of course, in companies the only way the politics is removed from the economics is that the board should be a diversified unbiased set of actors however they are usually financially motivated which complicates things.
Sticking to countries we see that: India is split between Delhi (politics) and Mumbai (economics) but is arguably blurring the lines with the amount of industry that is in or around the Delhi area.
Another observation which I believe countries can learn from is Germany. Berlin is clearly a cut and dry political centre whereas Frankfurt is the economic hub with economic support coming from tier two regions such as Munich, Düsseldorf, and Hamburg. Notably though, Berlin is also the startup and tech centre for Germany. To focus the innovation and politics in a single place to me seems like a big positive point for the long term future if the cultural environment is able to make it work. Notably, watch Bill Gurley’s talk at the All-In Summit.
I have not looked at the data of this comparing hundreds of countries but wonder if this split or centrlazation changes fundamental success metrics. The question to pose would be if morals and intentions start to get corrupted if money starts to seep into the ‘political setting’. Let me know if you have an equation to measure morals!
Lastly, I will leave you with a TED talk from Ian Bremmer who dives into the changing American led hegemonic global political landscape.