The Uninventive South? A Quantitative Look at Region and American Inventiveness

Historical economists studying the United States have typically been preoccupied with explaining the American economic success story. With their gaze firmly set on the national level, it is not surprising that they have stressed the role played by the creation of a highly integrated national economy in furthering growth. Although economists' fascination with the benefits of free trade, factor mobility, and the division of labor is justifiable, that same enthusiasm has led them to downplay an important countercurrent, that of persistent disparities in regional development. Yet, beginning with the SunbeltFrostbelt controversy of the late 1970s, we have seen increasing indications that, despite the prophets of convergence, regions have continued to matter greatly in our economic life. The major exception to this neglect of region by economic historians is the American South, whose observers have long been preoccupied with the paradox of persistent regional backwardness in a land of progress. An especially striking instance of this paradox has been the South's experience with industrialization, particularly prior to World War II. Despite impressive growth in manufacturing output