Regional Growth and Manufacturing in Ohio: Empirical Analyses Using Fourier Polynomials Expansions

This paper investigates the spatial variation of relationships between regional growth and manufacturing in Ohio in the light of hypotheses suggested by sectoral shifts, polarization reversal, and product cycle theories. The analyses reported are at the county level, and use two-dimensional Fourier polynomials expansions to estimate and map statistically significant spatial variation of relationships between regional growth and manufacturing. Our results indicate that the "effect" of levels and rates of change of manufacturing on regional growth differ depending upon a county's position in the rural-urban continuum, and also depending on whether or not a county is located in the segment of Ohio that is part of the "old industrial core."