What these figures demonstrate is the larger truth — the importance of London’s knowledge economy for the bigger economy. It’s not just the LSE which attracts the brightest young people in the world but Imperial College and UCL as well as others. Indeed, it is the interplay in London between various research institutions which makes London more than the sum of its parts. Obviously students have to struggle harder here than elsewhere to find somewhere to live (though part-time jobs are plentiful) but this is outweighed by the attractions of a big and cosmopolitan city.
Indeed, the knowledge economy goes beyond the universities.