Episode summary
Who Knew Newsom Was Such an Economic Maestro? | Bloomberg Businessweek
Bloomberg Businessweek Daily
· · 12 min · Hosts: Carol Massar, Tim Stenovec · Guests: Matthew Winkler
Summary
California’s economy is presented as a case study in long-run investment and recent policy continuity. Matthew Winkler argues that the state’s economic strength is rooted in its education system, from early compulsory schooling to today’s vast higher-education network, which produces more engineers and higher-paid technical workers than any other state. He says that foundation helps explain why California now leads in areas like manufacturing output, agriculture, and clean energy, while also attracting global companies’ R&D operations.
Winkler ties the state’s recent outperformance to Gavin Newsom’s tenure, saying California has led the country in GDP growth since 2019 and also outperformed the U.S. on broader labor and inflation indicators. He points to equity-market gains, healthcare investment, and the concentration of Fortune 500 firms as evidence that the state’s economy has strengthened despite persistent headlines about taxes, regulation, wildfires, and outmigration. He also argues that even critics like Elon Musk have had to return to California when they needed talent.
The broader point is that California’s advantage comes less from natural resources than from human capital, immigration, and innovation. Winkler says the state remains a magnet for people and capital, and he leaves open the idea that Newsom’s economic record could help his national political prospects.
Key takeaways
- Matthew Winkler says California has outperformed every U.S. state in GDP growth since Gavin Newsom became governor in 2019.
- Winkler argues California’s long-term edge comes from education, since the state now has about 640 colleges and universities and graduates more engineers than any other state.
- He says California accounts for 40% of U.S. equity growth despite having less than 12% of the population.
- Winkler says clean-energy companies in California outperform the world, with no U.S. state coming close.
- He suggests Elon Musk’s request for help moving Tesla engineers back to California shows how hard it is to replace the state’s talent base.
Notable quotes
“California by every measure we have on the Bloomberg terminal outperforms every state in the country in terms of GDP growth”
“California has something like 640 colleges and universities. Includes community colleges, of course”
“Clean energy companies in California outperform the world and there's nothing close in the US that comes close to the performance of clean energy companies”
“I need your help. Um I can't find the talent that I need in Texas. I'm coming back to California”
How the episode opens
Bloomberg Audio Studios. Podcasts, radio, news. You're listening to Bloomberg Businessweek with Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec on Bloomberg Radio.
Governor Gavin Newsom runs a state that is not just one of the largest economies in the world, but also one that's grown faster than China or Germany since the pandemic. Bloomberg Businessweek spoke with California Governor Gavin Newsom back on January 29th in a Bloomberg Newsmakers event. We we have the fourth largest economy in the world, not the sixth.
We have more Fortune 500 companies than we did since 2019, by the way, Bloomberg data. 49, now it's 58. We dominate 405.6 billion dollar output, 13.9% of the nation's manufacturing.
No one comes close. 62.1 billion dollars just as relates to agriculture. We haven't been sitting back on some of these structural issues.
I inherited the most blessed and cursed state in America. That was Governor Gavin Newsom at a Bloomberg Newsmakers event back in January. The governor was also the Businessweek cover story back in November.
You can check out that story on the Bloomberg terminal. Matt Winkler also spoke to the California governor for his most recent column. He joins us here in the Bloomberg Interactive Brokers studio.
Matt is Bloomberg News editor in chief emeritus and he joins us here in New York. Matt, I'm a Cali- I was telling you I'm a Californian, so I you know, love talking about California. I drive Carol crazy talking
About California. — Too. I want I want to talk about the economic miracle that is California right now and and what you found in the data, but I want to start going back 150 years plus to the point about education that you make in your column, because I think that's a good place to start when it comes to how successful California has been.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- california economy
- democratic politics
- tech talent migration
- tesla engineering relocation
- state economic growth
Companies and tickers mentioned
- TSLA
- Tesla Inc.
Watch the episode
Watch “Who Knew Newsom Was Such an Economic Maestro? | Bloomberg Businessweek” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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