The Ann Arbor bubble

Is the Ann Arbor bubble protecting the college town from today’s economy?Excerpt:Just a few miles from downtown Ann Arbor, American bison roam near the M-14 entrance ramp, peacefully grazing in front of a sprawling office park.These bison aren’t exactly wild. They live at the Domino’s Farms Petting Zoo. But the visual does encourage a certain notion of an urban city surrounded by frontier.In many ways, Ann Arbor seems to be isolated. Sitting a comfortable 35-odd miles from Detroit, the city also enjoys some economic and geographic distance from the Motor City’s current woes.At just below seven percent, Ann Arbor boasts one of the lowest unemployment rates in the state. In December 2008, the most recent regional statistics available from the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth, the unemployment rate in Wayne County — where Detroit is located — was 11.7 percent. The unemployment rate in Oakland County, where much of metro Detroit’s upper crust reside, was 8.6 percent.Washtenaw County’s rate was 6.9 percent, nearly four percentage points lower than the state average of 10.6 percent for the same month.Read the rest of the story here and five ways U-M benefits the region here.