Economy
Amazon’s HQ2 Search Was About Specialized Talent
Amazon chose Long Island City and Crystal City based on talent. But talent isn’t generic: The search for HQ2 was about particular types of it.
When Amazon chose Long Island City in Queens, New York, and Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia, as the sites between which to split the company’s second headquarters, I kept hearing that the choice was all about talent. Or, according to the title of an analysis from Brookings: “talent, talent, talent.”
Of course it was about talent. To be more precise, the company made its decision by selecting locations with specialized kinds of talent that meet certain needs.