Regional Economic Resilience as Revealed by the Strength and Structure of Inter-industry Linkages
Frank Giarratani and Randall Jackson, Principal Investigators

Economic restructuring in the 1980’s had profound effect on industrial areas in the United States, especially those in north central regions that have since become known as the “rust” belt. City-regions traditionally identified with steel production were among the most significantly affected by this phenomenon. However, three major centers of steel production, Pittsburgh, PA, Chicago, IL/Gary, IN, and Cleveland, OH fared very differently as a consequence of related events, whether measured in terms of steel-making capacity or their centrality to the steel industry.  Among the regions, Pittsburgh bore the brunt of losses in terms of steel manufacturing, and yet the cluster of intermediate steel industry suppliers in that region remained strong relative to those of its sister steel cities. In a comparative analysis of inter-industry linkages at discrete intervals over time, this paper highlights the importance of intermediate suppliers in contributing to a region’s economic resilience.  We show that the strength and structure of backward and forward linkages in Pittsburgh, Chicago/Gary, and Cleveland reveal that in a period of industry restructuring intermediate suppliers can develop a degree of independence in terms of their reliance on local markets, especially through export orientation.

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