The Regional Transformation of the American Economy

The US can be divided into 4 large regions: the Northeast, the North Central (or Midwest), the South, and the West. Using data on population, employment, and income for the years 1900, 1950, and 1980, it can be seen that the combined impact of demographics and economics has undermined the dominance of the older regions to the point where they account for less than half of the action politically and economically. To address the issue of how and why this transformation of economy took place, 3 scenarios can be examined. The Western scenario is one of sheer growth in numbers, of demand-pull. The Southern scenario is one of industrialization, a basically cost-pull scenario. The Northern scenario is one of adjustment to adversity. The North has been able to adjust in spite of strong trends favoring the South and West. The most serious losses have occurred in the North Central region, while the difficulties in the Mid-Atlantic region seem to have been arrested. New England has turned around dramatically.