Enterprise and Society 3:482-520 (2002)
© 2002 Business History Conference
Article |
The Causes of Deindustrialization: The Migration of the Cotton Textile Industry from New England to the South
David Koistinen is assistant professor of history at the American University of Beirut. Contact information: Department of History, American University of Beirut, P.O. Box 11–0236, Riad El Solh, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon. E-mail: dk06{at}aub.edu.lb.
Abstract
Numerous historians of deindustrialization argue that industries went into decline because established manufacturers moved production to cheaper locales to escape unions and high wages. A different pattern of decline occurred in the New England cotton textile industry, where downsizing began in the 1920s. Rather than fleeing their home area to build facilities elsewhere, most New England manufacturers were driven out of business by lower-cost competitors in the American South. Southerners founded, managed, and financed a heavy majority of the textile companies in their region. Although some New England firms did set up Southern plants, this was a defensive reaction to changing market realities. New competitors have brought about deindustrialization in other core U.S. industries. Recognizing this trend is important for a full understanding of the political economy of modern capitalism.