Phoenix is a miracle of a city.

Thanks to the ingenuity of Native Americans and an inventive canal system, later advanced by Salt River Project and others, sustenance and livelihood arrived in the harshest of environments.

The Valley is a community of growth, innovation and leadership, and has risen to become the fifth-largest city in America.

Yet there is a glaring omission if we want to continue to take our place among outstanding global cities.

We should have a lot more major investment banks, private equity funds, venture capital firms, real estate firms and infrastructure investment firms headquartered here.

According to the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, there are 641 private equity and related firms in the greater Phoenix area.

That’s far behind comparable metro areas that often compete with Phoenix for new business and industry.

Atlanta has 1,098 firms, Denver has 1,354, and Salt Lake City has 685. Among major hubs, Los Angeles has 4,153 private equity and related firms, while Chicago has 2,423.

Greater Phoenix has about 0.57 firms per capita. To reach the same capacity per capita as a market like Atlanta, we would........

© Arizona Republic