New York: the Big Apple in the 1990s

New York plays a fundamental role in the world economy as both a motor and beneficiary of globalization. This paper traces New York’s international ties in the 1990s. While the city’s global pre-eminence as a center of finance capital is well known, New York is also an important international center of corporate headquarters, business services, communications, tourism, and commercial real estate. Next, it reviews the spatial configuration of employment, with an emphasis on the overwhelming concentration of jobs in Manhattan, a reflection of the enormous agglomerative economies found there. Third, it notes the marginalized populations that have not benefited from globalization. Fourth, it addresses changing regimes of governance that have accompanied the city’s intersections with the global economy.