Sprouting Cities: How Rural America Industrialized / Fabian Eckert, John Juneau, Michael Peters.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Eckert, Fabian.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Juneau, John.

Peters, Michael.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w30874.

NBER working paper series no. w30874

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2023.

Summary:

We study the joint process of urbanization and industrialization in the US economy between 1880 and 1940. We show that only a small share of aggregate industrialization is accounted for by the relocation of workers from remote rural areas to industrial hubs like Chicago or New York City. Instead, most sectoral shifts occurred within rural counties, dramatically transforming their sectoral structure. Most industrialization within counties occurred through the emergence of new "factory" cities with notably higher manufacturing shares rather than the expansion of incumbent cities. In contrast, today's shift towards services seems to benefit large incumbent cities the most.

Notes:

Print version record

January 2023.