Different Coloured Rust Belts

During my travels of North America I have got the chance to explore the region referred to both affectionately and disparagingly as the 'Rust Belt', an area synonymous with the rise and fall of American manufacturing and other troubles facing the middle-class over recent decades. Beyond the generalizations of the region's lunch-pale character and love of football exists considerable variation between its cities that provide useful insight into understanding some of the broader issues facing the country. To tell this story I will compare and contrast the stories of Buffalo, Detroit, and where I am just returning from, Pittsburgh.

The rise of these cities share a host of similarities. Large numbers of migrants came to the mid-west including rural Whites leaving the farm, Blacks from the south, and large numbers of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe. Detroit, the Motor City, Pittsburgh, Steel City became the biggest manufacturing centres in the world, and all three were in an advantageous geographic position to become transportation hubs in America's incredible water and rail network. It was during the boom of these cities during the 1940's through 1960's that finally modern prosperity was felt throughout the population.

The moment would not last for the mid-west. Beginning in the mid 1970's changes in technology and transportation as well as foreign competition, most notably Japan, brought an end to America's dominance of global manufacturing. Plant-closings in the region began bringing job losses, then disaster, as the early 1980's recession brought crisis particularly to MI and PA.

As if a cruel joke on the region, the bad economic conditions of the early 1980's occurred under the fierce union-fighting Reagan administration, supporting companies in their efforts to rip-off their workers as they packed-up and left town. The sustained rise in unemployment shattered communities and caused a steady outflow of population that's consequences are still visible today: boarded buildings in downtowns, poor roads and infrastructure, and a real sense of malaise from a lack of opportunity. In the 1990's the city of Buffalo was giving away houses for free as long as someone would pay the tax, and Detroit is currently in the process of demolishing a quarter of its houses. The urban public education systems are in perpetual crisis with kids being packed into fewer and less staffed schools.

Unlike its counterparts, Pittsburgh did not suffer the same stagnation, and today is a more vibrant liveable city. Though battered by the collapse of the steel industry throughout the 1970's and 80's, the city began a rebound that remains strong today. From where I explored, I did not see the same dreary urban landscapes one becomes accustomed to in Buffalo or Detroit. I was shocked when driving downtown on Friday night to a Pirates game to see as many people heading to the stadium as the theatre!

The divergent paths between the cities is notably evinced in the labour market. In Pittsburgh, the decline in manufacturing employment (Blue) was well made up for with growth in healthcare and education (Red), and finance and technology (Green):

(Data only goes back to 1990!)
They may be known for the Steelers, but the biggest buildings there all read UPMC- University of Pittsburgh Medical Center- and they're all over town! In contrast, Detroit's tallest tower remains GM, and we know how that turned out. These growth sectors in Buffalo have not compensated for the fall in manufacturing unemployment:

The Great Recession of 2008-9 was not particularly severe in Pittsburgh, but Michigan is now basically
in a depression. Buffalo was mildly hit, but there was certainly no housing-bubble to burst!



So why the divergent outcomes between the three cities? Two factors that jump out are: 1) the importance of high-level educational, and 2) the different severities of racial histories.

In Pittsburgh's dense downtown are several universities, including one of the top math and computing schools in the world, Carnegie Mellon. Like Waterloo here in Ontario, the critical mass of the highly-educated and skilled has attracted newcomers and businesses alike, making it one of the hubs of many of the industries keeping America competitive, including IT, biotech, and healthcare. These well-paying jobs have powered broader prosperity in the city, by helping grow the service sector (e.g. retail), and ensuring public services receive adequate funding.

The city's success in these areas would certainly not be possible without being a centre for higher-education that could attract a highly-educated population amid the decline of manufacturing across the rust belt. In contrast, Detroit and Buffalo had nowhere near the educational infrastructure necessary to adapt to the changing economy. Ann Arbor, home to the University of Michigan is one of that State's lone bright-spots. The growing premium of education economists cite as a driver of income inequality seems clearly on display in the different paths of these cities.

While African Americans make up a large portion of each city, their different racial histories are another factor that separates the three. The urban development of Pittsburgh was such that Blacks were more evenly distributed in various neighbourhoods throughout the city rather than inhabiting massive sections as in Detroit and Buffalo. In the late 1960's, growing racial tensions exploded into riots between Blacks and Whites lasting for days and traumatizing the latter two, while Pittsburgh was spared the worst. It also experienced the least severe "white flight" from the 1970's through 1990's.

Today African Americans represent around the same percentage of population in Pittsburgh's and Buffalo's Metropolitan Statistical Area, but are more concentrated in the city of Buffalo (40%) than Pittsburgh (30%), while Whites have not lived in the city of Detroit for decades. The same issues of racial inequality exist in Pittsburgh as elsewhere, yet less severe racial segregation does ease some of the worst problems of crime and poverty. Telling the stories of troubles facing cities of the mid-west thus requires not only exploring the regionally specific economic history, but the also broader issues concerning African Americans across the country. The similarities and differences between these three cities highlight the poisonous effect that racial violence, discrimination, and segregation have had on urban America.

Their respective spectacular rise and falls were driven by the same factors, leaving behind a less populous and prosperous region. The continuing rebound of Pittsburgh in the face these factors attests to the importance of higher-education and race-relations for the region's, America's, and even southern Ontario's future.