tales of woe from the American Rustbelt

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Generali wrote: »

My thought is what can be done to create the conditions to allow the economy to bounce back faster after an exogenous shock? How can we help towns and districts to regenerate better?

It's not the economic damage per se, but the reputational damage that takes all the recovery time.

Even in the good times, Detroit had a reputation of being an impoverished, crime-ridden hell-hole that decent people should avoid. It's going to take more than a couple of cents off business rates to persuade workers to move there.

vivatifosi

michaels wrote: »

Interesting to think of it as a demographic problem rather than an economic one. British sea-side towns seem to be heading the same way, doctors, teachers don't want to be there, those with the gumption to do so leave to look for jobs leaving those requiring social support and those doing the low paid jobs looking after them paid for by the state. The big difference being the state resource in national not just local.

I think the two are inter related. If people had faith in the long term viability of the Detroit (or Bulgaria, or Hastings) economy, they would not fear putting roots down there, rather than doing so because their other options are limited. So a long term economic problem (say longer than one cycle), leads to demographic change over time.