Can Distressed Places be Revived?

Gloversville, New York produced 90% of the gloves sold in the US between 1880 and 1950. Today, its tanneries and glove factories are nearly all gone, and over 1 in 6 residents live in poverty. Similar stories of reversals of fortune have played out in many American towns and cities – from Flint, Michigan to Fresno and Bakersfield, California. Can the government help these places? Or should we accept that some towns, cities and counties will fall behind?

 

Tim Bartik joins EconoFact Chats to discuss the long run effects of local job losses, why creating jobs in distressed places is not a zero-sum game, and why programs tailored to local needs can create jobs at a lower cost than cash grants and tax incentives. He also explains why distressed places can’t easily recover on their own, but large-scale federal intervention may nevertheless prove difficult in the current political and fiscal climate.

 

Tim is a senior economist at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.