Quote:
Originally Posted by pj3000
I know what you mean, but how? And why do we have to draw a line somewhere, really?
State borders are established, accepted boundaries, but we know that they are only completely arbitrary lines on a map that don't actually exist... and obviously are totally ineffective as a means for determining the bounds of population centers. So how could any other lines drawn in this completely interconnected region be any more accurate?
Sure, I did understand what you were getting at, and I agree. I guess I'm just posing more of a rhetorical question. There's just so much interchange of population and commerce activity in the NYC-DC region that it's impossible to bound individual MSAs (which are among the largest MSAs in the nation) with any form of accuracy.
So if Philadelphia MSA gains population in Bucks County at NYC MSA expense, yet this population still commutes to and works in NYC MSA (even just across the border in NJ... as many do), the Philadelphia MSA gain and NYC MSA loss is rather meaningless, right? Does that really signify that Philadelphia is growing and NYC is shrinking?
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Well, as Bucks County becomes denser with this influx, it might itself become a job center or those New York exurbanites might drop their New York affiliation and start to look for jobs on the much closer Philadelphia.
That’s why I agree lines are blurred, Bucks County as an entity will always be more linked to Philly than to NYC, therefore Bucks gains, Philadelphia MSA gains.