Chapter 7: The Emergence of the Sunbelt South
In this chapter, Cobb addresses the growth that the South experienced in the post-war era. I'll set up the summary with a portion of his concluding paragraph:
The Sunbelt boom resulted from the interaction of seemingly contradictory influences. On the one hand, an influx of relatively affluent consumers combined with the cumulative impact of a high birth rate and increased federal spending to supply the momentum that neo-New South promotional strategies had failed to muster. On the other, the traditional development policies that had once confirmed a pattern of slow growth had also preserved the cost advantages and favorable business climate that made Dixie even more appealing to market-conscious industrialists. (p. 208)
According to Cobb, southern industrial location policy hadn't brought the South to the point of "rapid, self-sustaining growth," but it had set the stage. All that was needed was a "sharp external stimulus." (p. 179)
He lays out two broad categories of external stimulus.
Federal spending. Expansion of military bases in the South brought an influx of people and money. [Gregory Hooks, finds empirical evidence that, contrary to the beliefs of many, the South didn't get more WWII military spending, but that the spending it did get had a bigger effect. Perhaps because of the South's smaller initial economic base.] The space industry contributed to Florida's population boom. Big federal projects like the TVA not only directed federal dollars south, but also provided cheap power for industrial growth. And an increasingly redistributive federal government implemented more programs that gave money to, or spent money on behalf of, the poor, resulting in a net flow of dollars to the South where there were lots of poor people.
Some of this was promoted by journalists as a second civil war. Northern officials felt like their states were paying federal taxes to aid the South in stealing their industries. Northern congressmen started working together to modify federal programs to direct less money to the South and more to the North and Midwest Rust Belt. Cobb gives example of block grant rules. In response, southern governors formed the Southern Growth Policies Board, which still promotes southern development even today.
While one can dispute whether northen industries were moving south, new manufacturing facilities were opening in the South at a much greater rate than in the North during the 70s. Also, the South was seeing more foreign investment than the North during the period.
Population growth. Florida, with its attractive climate, led the way. It was the first southern state to attract a critical mass of population that allowed it to develop the sort of economy the whole South was aspiring to. Its ability to tax tourists allowed it to provide low taxes to residents and businesses while maintaining a higher service level. The space industry boom helped it to attract companies with high income managers and workers -- engineers and the like. It had a better image than most of the rest of the South; it was viewed as less racist and less backward than say Georgia or the Carolinas. Florida eventually had a large enough and affluent enough population to attract a significant number of industries interested in serving the market and not just in accessing cheap labor.
The growth of manufacturing in the South helped to generate inmigration from the North as workers and managers moved South to the new plants. The South also had a higher rate of natural increase. Also, in the post-Civil Rights movement South of the 70s, blacks began moving back to the South from the North.
This helped the rest of the South to reach a point where southern incomes and living standards began to converge with those of the North. But the South was still poorer than the North.
Cobb, J.C. (1993). The Selling of the South: The Southern Crusade for Industrial Development, 1936-1990. (2nd Ed.). Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Posted by Chip on July 10, 2004 at 07:11 AM | TrackBack