Elizabeth Currid

Are fashion, art, music and nightclubs as important to New York City’s economy as Wall Street?

Absolutely, according to Elizabeth Currid, an assistant professor in the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development. In fact, Currid believes that art and culture contribute more to the economic vitality of all great cities than most policymakers realize or admit.

In her book The Warhol Economy: How Fashion, Art and Music Drive New York City, Currid uses vivid, first-person reporting to give readers an insider’s view of the business of creativity. Analyzing employment, census and economic data, she explains how this cultural economy works, and how it contributes to the bottom line. She calculates the benefits of having arts districts, and urges cities to protect “artsy” neighborhoods that are becoming too popular for their own good by implementing zoning laws to discourage national chains from moving in, driving up rents and driving out the local art and business enterprises that first made the areas “cool and interesting.”

Having tackled New York, Currid now has cast her eye upon L.A. As a part of a larger study of global cultural hubs, she is examining the city’s social, cultural and economic networks, and exploring the role of Los Angeles – a vastly different place from New York – as one of the most innovative cultural epicenters in the world.

• Elizabeth Currid’s faculty bio
• To read a story about Elizabeth Currid’s The Warhol Economy, click here