The Broken Economy of Washington DC

Washington D.C. is home to the world's largest and most powerful economy. Still, most people don’t realize that this federal district is also one of the most complex and productive local economies globally.
In this video, we dive deep into the fascinating economics of Washington D.C.. How its strange status fuels a massive local economy, and why calls for it to become a state are intensifying. How its wealth paradoxically creates some of the worst inequality in the U.S. We’ll also explore how the unique structure of D.C. skews its economic measurements and what would happen if it gained independence as a state.

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[papulrocks]

DC rent is extremely high compared to the salaries that people here get (govt doesn't pay well). They have hundreds of thousands of interns/aides to congress working for next to nothing in terms of wage, while forming the backbone of the political process (writing docs and PRs only for the politicians to read them out loud).
These interns/aides come from well to do families all across the country and their lifestyle in DC is expensed by their parents lest their salary would only cover the rent at best.

[wanderlustwarrior]

Former DC resident here. The actual population of people who have lived in DC for generations is always treated as invisible, or seen with contempt, by the rest of the country. People assume it's all lobbyists and government employees, many of whom live outside the Beltway or come from the rest of the country. Very few people know what it's actually like, because even if they take a tour, they never go more than 10 blocks from the National Mall.

[UsifN]

2:31 maximum area of 100 square miles* (10x10 miles) it used to be 100 square miles, but Virginia wanted its part of DC back, and now it’s 60 square miles

[GallowglassAxe]

I don't live in DC but I go there once or twice a year. The homelessness is rather interesting. There are tent villages all over the area but they're not cheap or crappy tents but pretty high end tents. So my theory is that these people are probably working a full time job and getting paid pretty well but the cost of living there is so astronomical that they're still homeless.

[michaelimbesi]

3:37 Amtrak is government-owned. It’s not headquartered in DC because it wants influence, it’s headquartered in DC because it’s part of the federal government and it happens to have a lot of office space above Washington Union Station that it can use.

[Chicknluvver]

Wow why does Liberia spend so much on lobbying??

[evilemperorzurg]

It’s best to think of DC as just the core of a much larger urban area that extends into Virginia and Maryland.

Many people make six figures but in many cases they NEED to make that much to afford living there. Rent is very high and house prices are some of the highest in the US.

[financesavvyy]

Great insight into D.C.'s complex economy! It's crazy how its unique status drives both massive growth and big inequality. The idea of D.C. gaining independence is more interesting than ever. 🔥

[EvanLineberger]

The map shown at 9:46 isn't right. You're including all of present day Alexandria, which was not all part of the district back at the founding. A perfect square would be more accurate.

[davidnicholson]

I lived in DC many years ago. At the time, the city itself was very divided with NW being an extremely nice place to live (gorgeous brick townhomes, lush parks, cobbled streets etc) and most of the rest of the city being one of the worst cases of urban blight in the country at the time. Many of the surrounding suburbs are fabulously wealthy with some of the highest income and most expensive real estate areas in the country. There are lots of young people in the city, a large portion of whom are from wealthy families themselves and are in DC working internships for various government agencies. Georgetown was like a Disney Land for recent Ivy League grads with very expensive housing, fancy rooftop bars and high end shopping. Meanwhile NE was just sketchy with open drug dealing, violence, boarded up houses and police sirens. It's a very, very strange place. Things have changed a bit since those bad old days, but DC still has issues.

[ekmalsukarno]

Economics Explained, it would mean a lot to me if you made a video on the economy of Malaysia. That way, all your viewers and subscribers will learn about the country's GLCs (government-linked companies), ethnic-based politics, ethnic-based affirmative action policies, and how they all play a major role in Malaysia's economy. Please accept my request.

[dlewis]

DC will never achieve Statehood with the extreme division in US politics. The biggest issue is that ever state gets two Senators, so a Democratic leaning DC State would change the balance of the Senate immediately. About a decade ago there was a compromise bill that would have added two more Senators in Republican leaning places (somehow). The whole idea is virtually dead now.

[brd]

The national mall is not a suburb. It’s literally the middle of the city.

[Valivali]

Can you do one on Austria? Would be nice to see what an outside perspective with no interest in the matter has to say 🤔

[dumdumbrown]

The income stats/economic figures for D.C. are skewed by a small section of extremely well paid/wealthy individuals — very much like Canberra ACT in Australia, or Ottawa NCR in Canada.

[ascorvinus]

They should reduce the district to the National Mall, where the only permanent residents live in the White House. Then make the rest of it a county in Maryland. That would solve the representation problem without creating a 51st state.

[mike]

A big reason for the high poverty rate is that it was an easy place to build federally subsidized housing that was shot down by other cities.

[covertuser]

What should happen to D.C. is that a much smaller region than 10 x 10 miles should be kept as the federal district. The remaining portion should be returned to the state of Maryland, much as the original region of D.C. on the other side of the Potomac River was returned to the state of Virginia.

[Batmans_Pet_Goldfish]

DC wasnt really intended to be a city when the US was created. The Constitution set aside an area of land to put the seat of government, specifically so that it could be independent of any one state's influence. DC should just be the National Mall, where the president and their family are the only residents, (Which solves the issue of representation.) Rather than being a city, it'd be a district, (imagine that.)

[ethans]

Im from DC! It has issues for sure but it’s far better now than 10 years ago and a whole different city than it was 10 years before that. Overall I think it’s a really great place to live and it’s getting better all the time