Regional inversion in the United States: The institutional context for the rise of the Sunbelt since the 1940s

The United States experienced a very radical process of regional change during the second half of the twentieth century. A process of regional inversion, whereby lagging areas displace predominant regions as the most important national sources of economic and political power, was a major characteristic of US regional change. This phenomenon involved much fragmentation and decentralisation, as local and regional areas pursued their own competitive interests in the search for resources and capital. This paper provides, first, an overview of the US institutional context and its relationship with regional development, considering its most important characteristics and the factors that shaped development efforts since the late 1940s. The rise of the US Sunbelt, the most important regional phenomenon of the past five decades, is subsequently addressed. Its rising national influence overshadowed the previously predominant position of the Northeastern and Midwestern regions. Two important but much neglected factors that helped provide a platform upon which the process of regional inversion occurred, infrastructure and human capital development, are reviewed and illustrated. Contrasts with the Western European context are also considered, to provide some perspective on the institutional characteristics that shaped the rise of the US Sunbelt.