LAS VEGAS GRADUALLY IMPROVING IT'S
STANDING IN THE GLOBAL AND NATIONAL
ECONOMY

A new Brookings Institute study ranking
the performance of the world's 200
largest metro areas, Las Vegas came in
at number 179 for 2010-2011, up from
it's 199 showing for recent years.

The improvement came from Las Vegas
suddenly diversifying it's economy and
improving it's schools - tasks highly
recommended by the Brookings Institute
previously.

Just 4 metro areas in North America and
Western Europe - Houston, Dallas. Stuttgart
and Stockholm ranked among the 40 strongest
economies in 2010 and 2011 according to
the Institute.

"These developed metro economies exhibited
a healthy diversity that buoyed their recent
performance relative to regional peers,
including expansion in high value commodities,
manufacturing and business and financial
services sectors", the report said.

The Global Metro Monitor said that Las Vegas
and many other cities suffered from the
housing bubble in which prices dropped
significantly.,

"The weakest performing U.S. metro areas
reflected a mix of places hamstrung by poor
housing market conditions - examples, Riverside,
Las Vegas, Atlanta, dependent on trade with
fragile European partners - examples -
Indianapolis, Philadelphia, and concentrated
in state government services that faced steep
cuts in 2011."

But suprisingly, Las Vegas ranks ahead of
several U.S. cities in the new analysis.

Those trailing Las Vegas are Indianapolis,
New Orleans, San Francisco, Atlanta, Kansas
City, Richmond and Sacramento.