You can't sustain everything... N.B.'s production of food isn't high after, I'd guess, October (except rutabagas, perhaps), and its production of bananas or citrus fruit isn't high any time.

Knowledge work, and even some other kinds of work, aren't quite as tied to the physical place, though I do think you add quite a bit with some recurring face-to-face contact.

Keep in mind the distinction between a feature and a benefit. Neither N.B. nor Maryland is likely to manufacture a car (or a computer) at a price anyone's willing to pay. On the other hand, enough people may willing pay a price for products or services such that people can earn a living providing them. Economies of scale (heavily correlated with price) are nearly relentless, so the local coffee shop struggles against Starbucks or Tim Horton's.

I would disagree with the notion of China on the whole as evidence of risk-taking. A centrally-managed totalitarian state paying at lip service to Marxism, enabling rampant corruption, counting on a centuries-old habit of authoritarian rule, doesn't seem to fit under openness or opportunity.