Genius in Shanghai
With all due respect to Tyler and Bill, this oneis wrong. It is not an insightful question about globalization at all.
“Twenty years ago would you rather have been a B-student in Poughkeepsie or a genius in Shanghai? And today?”
Thechange in answersis purely becausethe political climate in Shanghaihas changed; it has nothing to do with globalization. Go back more than 20 years, and the answer changes yet again. It is only a few generations back when a smart business person in Shanghai could manage to acquire a sizable harem and luxurious lifestyle that would make the Poughkeepsie B-student green with envy (certainly the student of that time, perhaps even today).
Genius has always been a special case. The only question worth asking in the context of globalization, IMO, is “would you rather raise a B-student in Poughkeepsie or a B-student in Shanghai?” In other words, if you had a choice of where to raise your kids, where would it be? We have statistics on this one, and although Shanghai is still nowhere near the favorite for families given the choice, it is far more likely than in the past.