How do liberals who decry income inequality deal with the fact that income inequality is greatest in jurisdictions with liberal public policies? A story in Thursday’s New York Times suggests an answer.

The story is based on a Brookings Institution report that finds, in the words of the Times’ Annie Lowrey, that “inequality is sharply higher in economically vibrant cities like New York and San Francisco than in less dynamic ones like Columbus, Ohio, and Wichita, Kan.” And what does “vibrant” mean? Lowrey quotes the Brookings study’s author, Alan Berube, as saying less “vibrant” cities “are not homes to the sectors driving economic growth, like technology and finance. These are places that are home to sectors like transportation, logistics, warehousing.”