Originally Posted by Cynthetiq

If you look at Jersey City, NJ in the early 90s it was a wasteland of empty warehouses and loading docks. Why did the financial companies move there? Because NJ gave better tax breaks to the companies and they didn't have to worry about losing the workforce since there was public transportation infrastructure to fascilitate commuting. Eventually housing was also built, and today it's a small forest of skyscrapers.

So I don't think of it as much as a stretch as you do. Companies relocate to tax incentives, and people move for jobs.