Knowledge workers are either confined to selected urban areas around the world or are working remotely. We all know the selected metropolitan areas, San Francisco, New York, London, Berlin, Bangalore, and so on. It should not be a surprise that these are the areas which have seen a rapid increase in real-estate prices over the past decade. The remote workers, on the other hand, are living in low-cost of living areas. They end up choosing places with pleasant climates, low crime rate, and the right amount of tourist activities. Bali, Chiang Mai, Costa Rica, and Prague, to name a few. Both types of places win.
So which ones lose? Places with a high crime rate or worse civil war-like situations. Or Places with extreme climates. You won’t see a remote worker moving to New Foundland, Wyoming, Sahara desert, or Syria. Neither will an established company easily set up a big office in such undesirable locations either. And with technology, one rarely even needs a small office presence either. Most of these places have failed to grow with the global economy. They can neither provide a desirable environment for either big offices or remote workers. They have a low chance of ever catching up.