But the actual effect, according to Glenn Pascall, an economist, has been to enfeeble King County, the only body in the greater Seattle area with the geographic scope to deal effectively with transport and other regional issues.

ECONOMIST: Cities and growth

Indeed, among the larger established tech regions, the only real winners have been Seattle, with its diversified and heavily suburbanized economy, and greater Washington, D.

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Michael Parks, the editor of a Seattle business newsletter, worries that Airbus, whose order book was greater than Boeing's last year, might seize the leadership of the aerospace industry.

ECONOMIST: Troubled cities 2

The creative geniuses of Silicon Valley, Seattle, Cambridge, Austin and places like them have pulled a trick of far greater consequence than to ship, every week, the latest whippy gadget to the world.

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