Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
family farming entered a period of crisis beginning in the 1920s. The economy of
the years 1918-70 was dominated by large industrial groups pursuing economies of
scale and manufacturing while making extensive use of abundant labor.
In a context of restricted immigration and workforce redistribution, economic
opportunity became increasingly dependent upon internal migration. The period was
dominated by a trend toward population concentrations at the expense of the
countryside and the towns. Cities located within the Manufacturing Belt became
attractive in the years 1915-30, after which reverse migration developed as a result
of industrial reorganization. The great western movement continued, however, and
California finally emerged as the leading state in terms of population. The big cities
of the South and West grew from 1940, due largely to the emergence of military-
industrial complexes. The great migration of rural Southern blacks to Northern
manufacturing cities was the other important movement of that period.
Following the 1973 oil crisis, the US economy entered a new business cycle
which might be described as post-industrial in that manufacturing employment
declined to the advantage of the service sector, except for businesses which used
computer and information technologies. During this period the US economy
participated extensively in trade globalization and a growing share of manufactured
goods consumed in the United States was produced elsewhere, especially in Asia,
with direct consequences on the viability of Manufacturing Belt cities.
The cities of the Manufacturing Belt thus became cities of the “Rustbelt”,
especially in those areas that specialized in coal extraction and steel manufacturing.
This crisis bypassed the cities of the South and West whose “new” industries, in
aerospace and computer technologies for instance, were largely propelled by
military spending and considerable technological advances over European and
especially Asian competition, which ensured their continued viability and growth.
The rise of the “new economy”, based largely on computer and information
technologies, is without doubt the most significant economic factor of recent
decades. The locations of these core technology production centers were largely
influenced by locations chosen by the United States Air Force during the Second
World War, which were choices determined by a general aversion to cold weather.
From Seattle to Virginia, a peripheral growth ring emerged in the South and West,
which was rapidly baptized the Sun Belt in 1969 by geopolitical analyst Kevin B.
Phillips. This was met with considerable success. The metaphor of a continental
“sunbelt” was effective, but it hid the diverse economic circumstances of the
metropolitan areas concerned.
