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Comment by jrlocke | Hacker News Reader

As a software engineer in Boston this only confirms my feelings that we are a world leader in innovation. I'm looking forwards the the smart people that this will bring to my great city.

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I'm looking forwards the the smart people [...]

I'm not sure that a corporate headquarters is going to bring the kind of people you're assuming that it will bring into Boston.

Also, perhaps this win will offset the impending EMC layoffs. It's a good way for a politician to say they are doing something about the state jobs market, even though the package being offered to GE seems very generous and costly.

Chicago checking in. We've had a number of corporations move their HQ to downtown and it's done nothing for the job market.

Boeing has been here 15 years now.

My take is that corporate HQs are the equivalent of a major league sports team (though orders of magnitude better for the economy than another stadium). You get a relatively small number of employees and some prestige, but not a lot of secondary industry compared to what production facilities generate -- or used to, anyway. Economic development's a tough game these days; the rules have changed and no one's really sure what the new ones are.

Well have I got some sweet news for you then: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20160111/BLOGS02/1601...

I wonder if they'll close and sell off the Barrington property. That alone will probably pay for the buildout of the downtown offices.

I imagine this will do little but raise housing rates.

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