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The Rise of the Sunbelt by Edward L TAUBMAN CENTER POLICY BRIEFS PB-2007-5 | May 2007 The Rise of the Sunbelt By Edward L. Glaeser, Harvard University, and Kristina Tobio, Kennedy School of Government Introduction the driving force behind this growth. The traditional explanations for the Edward L. Glaeser In the 1930s, the eleven Southern Edward L. Glaeser is the Fred and growth are increasing productivity states of the old Confederacy seemed Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics in the South and increasing demand in Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences trapped in the cycle of poverty and and is Director of the Kennedy School of for Sunbelt amenities, especially its decline that had characterized the Government’s Taubman Center for State pleasant weather. A third, less studied and Local Government. region since the Civil War. Since explanation is the Sunbelt’s more World War II, however, the region Kristina Tobio fl exible housing supply. has become one of the great success Kristina Tobio is a Senior Research Assistant at the Taubman Center for State stories in America. As shown in Figure Our empirical analysis assesses and Local Government. 1, the South’s share of the national the relative contributions of rising A. Alfred Taubman Center for population has increased from 24 productivity, rising demand for State and Local Government Sunbelt amenities, and an increasing The Taubman Center and its affi liated percent to 30 percent since 1950. From institutes and programs are the 1950 to 2000, average income in the Sunbelt housing supply to Southern Kennedy School of Government’s focal and Sunbelt growth. Our results point for activities that address urban South increased from 76 percent of the policy, state and local governance and national average to 94 percent of the suggest that rising demand for Sunbelt intergovernmental relations. national average, while housing prices amenities has had little to do with Taubman Center Policy Briefs are short overviews of new and notable research rose from 83 percent to 91 percent of the growth of the Sunbelt, while on these issues by scholars affi liated the national average. rising productivity and, surprisingly, with the Center. increased housing supply have both © 2007 by the President and Fellows of The tremendous growth of the South played important roles in the growth Harvard College. The contents refl ect the refl ects a nationwide correlation views of the authors (who are responsible of the South and the Sunbelt. for the facts and accuracy of the material between warmth and growth herein) and do not represent the offi cial throughout the postwar period. Background: Theories of Southern views or policies of the Taubman Center for State and Local Government. Figure 2 shows the correlation and Sunbelt Growth between January temperatures and A. Alfred Taubman Center for State and Local Government population growth from 1950 to Increasing Productivity: The fi rst hypothesis suggests that Southern John F. Kennedy School of Government, 2000. Correlations between January 79 JFK St., Cambridge, MA 02138 growth is due to increases in temperatures and income growth, Telephone: (617) 495-2199 as well as January temperatures and Southern productivity. Economists Email: [email protected] housing price growth, show a similar have suggested several possible www.ksg.harvard.edu/taubmancenter pattern. explanations for the increasing productivity experienced in the South While it is clear that the Sunbelt - during the postwar period. One theory places with warm Januarys and Julys, is that increased capital accumulation, including but not limited to the South such as the construction of factories - has experienced a boom since 1950, or purchase of machinery, allowed it is far from obvious what has been for the South’s rapid convergence The Rise of the Sunbelt TAUBMAN CENTER POLICY BRIEFS Figure 1: Population, Income, and Housing Values in the South Versus the Entire United States, 1950-2000 Notes: Population data from the Census at http:.//www.census.gov/population/censusdata/urbanpop0090.txt and factfi nder.census.gov. Housing value and income ratios from historical U.S. Census County Data Books, found in Haines, Michael R..; Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, 2005-02-25, “Historical, Demographic, Economic, and Social Data: The United States, 1790-2000,” hdl:1902.2/02896 http://id.thedata.org/hdl%3A1902.2%2F02896 Inter- university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor9DDI)]. with more developed regions in the North. exacerbated by the South lagging behind the Another possible explanation is the South’s North in its access to clean water. However, structural transformation from agriculture by 1950, there were a number of changes to manufacturing. Additionally, decreasing that could have signifi cantly increased the transportation costs may have contributed by amenities of warm regions. Most signifi cantly, making the Northern advantages of superior improvements in public health and water waterways and railroads irrelevant. Finally, purifi cation mitigated disease, and the changing political institutions, particularly the development of air conditioning made the heat decline in Jim Crow politics, may also have much more tolerable. Thus, some economists helped increase productivity as politicians argue that improvements in Southern consumer began to concentrate on attracting industry amenities made the South a more attractive rather than maintaining racist policies. place to live, thus driving the South’s Increasing Demand for Amenities: The population growth. second hypothesis suggests that Southern Similarly, other warm places outside the and Sunbelt growth is due to an increasing South provide sun-related amenities. Using demand for the amenities, such as mild amenities to explain growth in some areas of winters, that these places provide. Southern the Sunbelt, such as California with its pleasant cities were relatively unpleasant places to winters, seems intuitive. Los Angeles became live in the early 1900s. Summer heat was a great city because of its weather. Its great oppressive and contributed signifi cantly to the industries, such as movies and aerospace, were spread of infectious disease. The problem was led by early migrants, like D.W. Griffi th and 2 The Rise of the Sunbelt TAUBMAN CENTER POLICY BRIEFS Figure 2: Population Growth, 1950-2000 and January Temperature Mean January Temperature Donald Douglas, who moved there because permissive permitting or greater availability of they liked its Mediterranean climate. But land. There is evidence for abundant permitting the growth of the Sunbelt today is no longer in some Southern metropolitan areas. For led by the temperate areas on the California instance, in 2005, three of the top fi ve permit- coast. Since the 1970s, growth has been issuing metropolitan areas were Atlanta, Dallas, increasingly centered in the cities of Texas and Houston. The fact that the South and the and the Southwestern desert. With their Sunbelt are less densely populated than other oppressive summers, these areas have climates areas of the United States, and thus simply that are far less pleasant than the climate of have more space to construct new homes, could California. This seems to indicate that perhaps have also contributed to the increase in housing growth in the South and the Sunbelt is driven supply in these areas. by something other than their sun-related amenities. Empirical Analysis Housing Supply: The fi nal hypothesis is that Our empirical analysis uses data on income, a greater Southern and Sunbelt tolerance for housing prices, and population growth in new residential construction has driven growth. Sunbelt and non-Sunbelt areas to determine the According to this hypothesis, more homes were relative contribution of increased productivity, built in these areas and thus more people came sun-related amenities, and increased housing to live in the South and the Sunbelt. Demand supply to Southern and Sunbelt growth. Three for housing increased across the United States proxies for “Sunbelt status” - mean January in the postwar period, but it is possible that the temperature, mean July temperature, and a housing supply was more easily increased in dummy variable indicating if the state is in the the South and the Sunbelt, either due to more South - were also used in the regressions to 3 The Rise of the Sunbelt TAUBMAN CENTER POLICY BRIEFS analyze the effects being in the Sunbelt had July temperatures. This suggests that people on income growth, population growth, and demanded higher incomes to compensate them housing price growth. for living in the South and in other places in the Sunbelt with high July temperatures. Contrary to expectations, we Thus, we fi nd declining amenity fl ows in the fi nd very little evidence to South and places with high July temperatures. support the hypothesis that These results should not be interpreted as suggesting that amenity improvements such as growth in the South and the air conditioning or clean water were irrelevant, Sunbelt was driven by only that without these improvements people increased demand for sun- would likely have demanded even higher related amenities. incomes for living in the South or in places with high July temperatures. Contribution of Productivity to Growth: In Contribution of Housing Supply to Growth: line with the traditional view that in the South Surprisingly, in addition to productivity after World War II increases in productivity growth, we fi nd that since 1970 the expansion and economic convergence were important of Southern housing supply has been a very contributors to growth, our analysis fi nds that important contributor to growth. Our analysis from 1950 to 1980, and even in the 1990s, shows that housing supply in the South was productivity grew more rapidly in the South increasing by 20 percent more than the rest than in the rest of the United States. Our of the country during the 1970s and 1980s. analysis also suggests that population growth Also, a 10 degree increase in July temperatures in the Sunbelt prior to the 1970s was driven was associated with 20 percent more housing largely by increases in economic productivity.
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