Doubling the size of a city — from 100,000 to 200,000 or from 10 to 20 million — systematically produces a 15 percent per-capita increase in wages, wealth, patents, crime, police, and AIDS cases, together with a 15 percent per-capita savings on infrastructure; this 15 percent rule holds universally regardless of location.

factualpending

Speaker

Geoffrey West

Evidence Quote

you get a 15 percent increase in wages, wealth, number of AIDS cases, number of police... and you have a 15 percent savings on the infrastructure

Source

Geoffrey West: The surprising math of cities and corporationsTED
Created: 7/4/2026, 9:38:42 PM

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