Giving Compass' Take:

· The Brookings Institution touches on different ways to counter regional divergence, starting with putting emphasis on bold responses rather than scare tactics with statistics.

· How can philanthropy help counter regional divergence? 

· Read more about countering regional divergence.

Last week, Brookings Metro and the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF) released a new report examining the nation’s epidemic of regional divergence and arguing for a concentrated investment surge to bring tech innovation to “heartland” cities and regions. In covering the report, media outlets overwhelmingly focused on one topline statistic: that just five “superstar” metropolitan areas accounted for 90% of U.S. innovation-sector growth between 2005 and 2017.

Which is understandable. The statistic in question is important, and epitomizes something extremely disturbing: the extent to which today’s “hyperconcentrated” innovation economy is creating gargantuan regional divides.

That may be why, in a tweet citing the statistic, ProPublica’s Alec MacGillis wrote that “growing regional inequality is *the* story of our moment.” We agree—and believe it’s a national emergency that 90% of U.S. metro areas have seen their share of the nation’s innovation sector shrink in the last 15 years. After all, the rise of regional divergence confronts the nation with untenable economic, social, and political costs, ranging from dangerous efficiency and competitiveness problems, to serious fairness and social welfare burdens, to political backlash.

And yet, we hope our scariest statistic doesn’t overshadow the rest of the report, which advances a big, ambitious, and positive proposal for beginning to counter at least one part of the nation’s unacceptable spatial divides.

Read the full article about regional divergence by Mark Muro, Robert D. Atkinson, and Jacob Whiton at The Brookings Institution.