View source for Rust Belt

{{short description|Region in the U.S. affected by industrial decline}}
{{Use American English|date=November 2016}}
{{Redirect|Steel Belt|the type of conveyor belt|Steel belt}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}}
[[File:Bethlehem Steel (1).JPG|thumb|The now rusting steel stacks of [[Bethlehem Steel]] in [[Bethlehem, Pennsylvania]], one of the largest [[steel]] manufacturers for most of the 20th century until it abruptly discontinued most of its manufacturing in 1982, and later declared bankruptcy and dissolved]]
The '''Rust Belt''', formerly the '''Steel Belt''' or '''Factory Belt''', is an area of the [[United States]] that underwent substantial [[Deindustrialization|industrial decline]] in the late 20th century. The region is centered in the [[Great Lakes]] and [[Mid-Atlantic (United States)|Mid Atlantic]] regions of the [[United States]]. Common definitions of the Rust Belt include [[Ohio]], [[Indiana]], [[Northern Illinois]], southeastern [[Wisconsin]], [[Michigan]], [[Pennsylvania]], and [[Upstate New York]]. Some broader geographic definitions of the region include parts of [[Central Illinois]], [[Iowa]], [[Kentucky]], [[Maryland]], [[Minnesota]], [[Missouri]], [[New Jersey]], and [[West Virginia]]. The term "Rust Belt" is considered to be a pejorative by some people in the region.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Trubek |first=Anne |date=2018-04-03 |title=Our Collective Ignorance About the Rust Belt Is Getting Dangerous |url=https://time.com/5225497/rust-belt-history/ |access-date=2025-05-21 |website=TIME |language=en}}</ref>

Between the late 19th century and late 20th century, the Rust Belt formed the industrial heartland of the country, and its economies were largely based on [[Iron and steel industry in the United States|iron and steel]], [[Automotive industry in the United States|automobile production]], [[Coal mining in the United States|coal mining]], and the processing of [[Raw material|raw materials]]. The term "Rust Belt", derived from the substance [[rust]], refers to the socially corrosive effects of [[economic collapse|economic decline]], [[population decline|population loss]], and [[urban decay]] attributable to deindustrialization. The term gained popularity in the U.S. beginning in the 1980s,<ref name=":0">Crandall, Robert W. ''The Continuing Decline of Manufacturing in the Rust Belt''. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1993.</ref> when it was commonly contrasted with the [[Sun Belt]], whose economy was then thriving. 

The Rust Belt experienced industrial decline beginning in the 1950s and 1960s,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.minneapolisfed.org/article/2014/competition-and-the-decline-of-the-rust-belt#:~:text=The%20Rust%20Belt%20was%20an,Belt%20began%20a%20long%20downturn | title=Competition and the Decline of the Rust Belt &#124; Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis | access-date=October 11, 2022 | archive-date=October 11, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221011194907/https://www.minneapolisfed.org/article/2014/competition-and-the-decline-of-the-rust-belt#:~:text=The%20Rust%20Belt%20was%20an,Belt%20began%20a%20long%20downturn | url-status=live }}</ref> with manufacturing peaking as a percentage of [[Economy of the United States|U.S. GDP]] in 1953 and declining incrementally in subsequent years and especially in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Demand for coal declined as industry turned to [[Petroleum|oil]] and [[natural gas]], and U.S. steel was undercut by competition from [[Germany]] and [[Japan]]. High labor costs in the Rust Belt were also a factor in encouraging the region's heavy manufacturing companies to relocate to the Sun Belt or overseas or to discontinue entirely. The U.S. automotive industry also declined as consumers turned to fuel-efficient foreign-manufactured vehicles after the [[1973 oil crisis]] raised the cost of gasoline and foreign auto manufacturers began opening factories in the U.S., which were largely not [[Labor unions in the United States|strongly unionized]] like the U.S. auto manufacturers in the Rust Belt. Families moved away from Rust Belt communities, leaving cities with falling [[Tax revenue|tax revenues]], declining infrastructure, and abandoned buildings. Major Rust Belt cities include [[Baltimore]], [[Buffalo, New York|Buffalo]], [[Chicago]], [[Cincinnati]], [[Cleveland]], [[Detroit]], [[Milwaukee]], [[Philadelphia]], [[Pittsburgh]], [[Rochester, New York|Rochester]], and [[St. Louis]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.thoughtco.com/rust-belt-industrial-heartland-of-the-united-states-1435759#:~:text=Bordering%20lands%20include%20parts%20of,Buffalo%2C%20Cleveland%2C%20and%20Detroit. | title=The Rust Belt is the Industrial Heartland of the United States | access-date=July 25, 2024 | archive-date=June 19, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240619122705/https://www.thoughtco.com/rust-belt-industrial-heartland-of-the-united-states-1435759#:~:text=Bordering%20lands%20include%20parts%20of,Buffalo%2C%20Cleveland%2C%20and%20Detroit. | url-status=live }}</ref> [[New England]] was also hit hard by industrial decline, but cities closer to the [[East Coast of the United States|East Coast]], including in the metropolitan areas of [[Greater Boston|Boston]], [[New York metropolitan area|New York]], and [[Washington metropolitan area|Washington, D.C.]] were able to adapt by [[Economic diversity|diversifying]] or transforming their economies, shifting to  [[Service economy|services]], advanced manufacturing, and high-tech industries.<ref>David Koistinen, ''Confronting Decline: The Political Economy of Deindustrialization in Twentieth-Century New England'' (2013)</ref>

Since the 1980s, presidential candidates have devoted much of their time to the economic concerns of the Rust Belt region, which includes several populous [[swing state|swing states]], including Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. These states were crucial to [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[Donald Trump]]'s victories in the [[2016 United States presidential election|2016]] and [[2024 United States presidential election|2024 presidential elections]] and the losses by [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]] [[Hillary Clinton]] in 2016 and [[Kamala Harris]] in 2024.<ref name="Revolt of the Rust Belt">{{cite journal|title=The revolt of the Rust Belt: place and politics in the age of anger|journal=The British Journal of Sociology|volume=68|issue=S1|pages=S120–S152|author=Michael McQuarrie|date=November 8, 2017|doi=10.1111/1468-4446.12328|pmid=29114874|s2cid=26010609 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

==Background==
[[File:Total mfctrg jobs change 54-02.png|thumb|The change in the total number of manufacturing jobs in metropolitan areas between 1954 and 2002 (the figures for [[New England]] are from 1958 to 2002):<br />
{{Legend|maroon|>58% loss|size=60%}}
{{Legend|red|43–56% loss|size=60%}}
{{Legend|#FFA0A0|31–43.2% loss|size=60%}}
{{Legend|#FFC000|8.7–29.1% loss [US avg.: 8.65% loss]|size=60%}}
{{Legend|#80F000|7.5% loss – 54.4% gain|size=60%}}
{{Legend|#00F020|>62% gain|size=60%}}]]

In the 20th century, local economies in these states specialized in large-scale [[manufacturing]] of finished medium to heavy industrial and consumer products, and the transportation and processing of the raw materials required for heavy industry.<ref>Teaford, Jon C. ''Cities of the Heartland: The Rise and Fall of the Industrial Midwest''. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993.</ref> The area was referred to as the Manufacturing Belt,<ref>Meyer, David R. 1989. "Midwestern Industrialization and the American Manufacturing Belt in the Nineteenth Century." ''Journal of Economic History'' 49(4):921–937.</ref> Factory Belt, or Steel Belt as distinct from the agricultural Midwestern states forming the so-called [[Corn Belt]] and [[Great Plains]] states that are often called the "breadbasket of America".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.learner.org/interactives/historymap/fifty3.html|title=Interactives . United States History Map. Fifty States|website=www.learner.org|access-date=June 7, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170404164131/https://www.learner.org/interactives/historymap/fifty3.html|archive-date=April 4, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The flourishing industrial manufacturing in the region was caused in part by the proximity to the [[Great Lakes]] waterways, and abundance of paved roads, water canals, and railroads. After the transportation infrastructure linked the [[iron ore]] found in the so-called [[Iron Range]] of northern [[Minnesota]], Wisconsin and [[Upper Peninsula of Michigan|Upper Michigan]] with the [[Metallurgical coal|coking coal]] mined from the [[Geology of the Appalachians|Appalachian Basin]] in [[Western Pennsylvania]] and [[Western Virginia]], the Steel Belt was born. Soon it developed into the Factory Belt with its manufacturing cities: Chicago, Buffalo, Detroit, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Toledo, Cleveland, St. Louis, Youngstown, and Pittsburgh, among others. This region for decades served as a magnet for immigrants from [[Austria-Hungary]], [[Poland]], and [[Russia]], as well as [[Yugoslavia]], [[Italy]], and the [[Levant]] in some areas, who provided the industrial facilities with inexpensive labor.<ref>, McClelland, Ted. ''Nothin' but Blue Skies: The Heyday, Hard Times, and Hopes of America's Industrial Heartland''. New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2013.</ref> These migrants drawn by labor were also accompanied by [[African Americans]] during the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]] who were drawn by jobs and better economic opportunity.

[[File:Per capita personal income change in metropolitan counties, 1980-2002.png|thumb|The change in per capita personal income in metropolitan counties relative to average U.S. metropolitan areas between 1980 and 2002:<br />
{{Legend|Green|income above avg., growth faster than avg.|size=60%}}
{{Legend|Lime|income above avg., growth avg. or below avg.|size=60%}}
{{Legend|#80F000|income above avg. but decreasing|size=60%}}
{{Legend|Pink|income below avg., growth faster than avg.|size=60%}}
{{Legend|red|income below avg., growth avg. or below avg.|size=60%}}
{{Legend|maroon|income below avg. and further decreasing|size=60%}}]]
Following several "boom" periods [[Gilded Age|from the late-19th]] to the [[Post–World War II economic expansion|mid-20th century]], cities in this area struggled to adapt to a variety of adverse economic and social conditions. From 1979 to 1982, known as the [[Paul Volcker|Volcker shock]],<ref name="Wolf 2022">{{cite web | last=Wolf | first=Zachary B. | title=This kind of shock to the economy will have consequences | website=CNN | date=July 27, 2022 | url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/27/politics/fed-interest-rate-volcker-what-matters/index.html | access-date=October 3, 2023 | archive-date=October 15, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231015094745/https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/27/politics/fed-interest-rate-volcker-what-matters/index.html | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Statista 2022">{{cite web | title=Volcker Shock: key economic indicators 1979-1987 | website=Statista | date=October 10, 2022 | url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/1338105/volcker-shock-interest-rates-unemployment-inflation/ | access-date=October 3, 2023 | archive-date=October 15, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231015094746/https://www.statista.com/statistics/1338105/volcker-shock-interest-rates-unemployment-inflation/ | url-status=live }}</ref> the [[Federal Reserve|U.S. Federal Reserve]] decided to raise the base interest rate in the [[United States]] to 19%. High-interest rates attracted wealthy foreign "hot money" into U.S. banks and caused the [[United States dollar|U.S. dollar]] to appreciate. This made U.S. products more expensive for foreigners to buy and also made imports much cheaper for Americans to purchase. The misaligned exchange rate was not rectified until 1986, by which time Japanese imports, in particular, had made rapid inroads into U.S. markets.<ref>{{Cite magazine |author=Marie Christine Duggan |year=2017 |title=Deindustrialization in the Granite State: What Keene, New Hampshire Can Tell Us About the Roles of Monetary Policy and Financialization in the Loss of US Manufacturing Jobs |url=https://www.academia.edu/35530846 |magazine=Dollars & Sense |issue=November/December 2017 |access-date=March 12, 2018 |archive-date=December 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211224173113/https://www.academia.edu/35530846 |url-status=live }}</ref> 

From 1987 to 1999, the U.S. stock market went into a stratospheric rise, and this continued to pull wealthy foreign money into U.S. banks, which biased the exchange rate against manufactured goods. Related issues include the decline of the [[Iron and steel industry in the United States|iron and steel industry]], the movement of manufacturing to the southeastern states with their lower labor costs,<ref>{{Cite web |author=Alder |first1=Simeon |last2=Lagakos |first2=David |last3=Ohanian |first3=Lee |year=2012 |title=The Decline of the US Rust Belt: A Macroeconomic Analysis |url=http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/workshops/macro/TheDeclineoftheU.S.RustBelt.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203001109/http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/workshops/macro/TheDeclineoftheU.S.RustBelt.pdf |archive-date=December 3, 2013}}</ref> the layoffs due to the rise of [[automation]] in industrial processes, the decreased need for labor in making steel products, new organizational methods such as [[Lean manufacturing|just-in-time manufacturing]] which allowed factories to maintain production with fewer workers, the internationalization of American business, and the [[liberalization]] of foreign trade policies due to [[globalization]].<ref>High, Steven C. Industrial Sunset: The Making of North America's Rust Belt, 1969–1984. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003.</ref> Cities struggling with these conditions shared several difficulties, including [[Shrinking city|population loss]], lack of education, declining tax revenues, high unemployment and crime, drugs, swelling welfare rolls, deficit spending, and poor municipal credit ratings.<ref>Jargowsky, Paul A. ''Poverty and Place: Ghettos, Barrios, and the American City''. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1997.</ref><ref>Hagedorn, John M., and Perry Macon. ''People and Folks: Gangs, Crime and the Underclass in a Rustbelt City''. Lake View Press, Chicago, IL, (paperback: {{ISBN|0-941702-21-9}}; clothbound: {{ISBN|0-941702-20-0}}), 1988.</ref><ref>"Rust Belt Woes: Steel out, drugs in," ''The Northwest Florida Daily News'', January 16, 2008. [http://www.pcnh-d.net/archives/2008/DailyNews/2008_Jan_16/a2.pdf PDF] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160406142300/http://www.pcnh-d.net/archives/2008/DailyNews/2008_Jan_16/a2.pdf |date=April 6, 2016 }}</ref><ref>Beeson, Patricia E. "Sources of the decline of manufacturing in large metropolitan areas." ''Journal of Urban Economics'' 28, no. 1 (1990): 71–86.</ref><ref>Higgins, James Jeffrey. ''Images of the Rust Belt''. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1999.</ref>

==Geography==
{{See also|Regional economics | Economic history of the United States}}
[[File:Emerging US megaregions with cities labeled.png|thumb|The [[Great Lakes megalopolis]] shown in {{Background color|#e7931d|orange}}, part of the Rust Belt]]
[[File:Sectors of US Economy as Percent of GDP 1947-2009.png|thumb|Sectors of the U.S. economy as a percentage of [[Gross domestic product|GDP]] between 1947 and 2009<ref>{{cite web|title=Who Makes It?|url=http://www.63alfred.com/whomakesit/|access-date=November 28, 2011|archive-date=September 20, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190920130607/http://www.63alfred.com/whomakesit/|url-status=live}}</ref>]]
Since the term "Rust Belt" is used to refer to a set of economic and social conditions rather than to an overall geographical region of the U.S., the Rust Belt has no precise boundaries. The extent to which a community may have been described as a "Rust Belt city" depends on how great a role industrial manufacturing played in its local economy in the past and how it does now, as well as on perceptions of the economic viability and living standards of the present day.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}

News media occasionally refer to a patchwork of defunct centers of heavy industry and manufacturing across the Great Lakes and Midwestern United States as the ''snow belt'',<ref>{{cite news|title= Sun On The Snow Belt (editorial)|url= https://www.chicagotribune.com/1985/08/25/sun-on-the-snow-belt/|access-date= September 22, 2011|newspaper= Chicago Tribune|date= August 25, 1985|quote= The Northern states, once the foundry of the nation, are known now as the Rust Belt or the Snow Belt, in invidious comparison to the supposedly booming Sun Belt.|archive-date= September 22, 2024|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240922205015/https://www.chicagotribune.com/1985/08/25/sun-on-the-snow-belt/|url-status= live}}</ref> the manufacturing belt, or the factory belt because of their vibrant industrial economies in the past. This includes most of the cities of the Midwest as far west as the [[Mississippi River]], including St. Louis, and many of those in the Great Lakes and Northern New York.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Neumann |first=Tracy |title=Remaking the Rust Belt |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=2016 |isbn=9780812292893 |language=English}}</ref> At the center of this expanse lies an area stretching from northern Indiana and southern Michigan in the west to [[Upstate New York]] in the east, where local tax revenues {{as of | 2004 | lc = on}} relied more heavily on manufacturing than on any other sector.<ref>{{cite web|title= Measuring Rurality: 2004 County Typology Codes|url= http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/Rurality/Typology/maps/Manufacturing.htm|publisher= USDA Economic Research Service|access-date= September 21, 2011|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110914001620/http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/Rurality/Typology/maps/Manufacturing.htm|archive-date= September 14, 2011|url-status= dead}}</ref><ref>Garreau, Joel. ''The Nine Nations of North America''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1981.</ref>

Prior to [[World War II]], cities in the Rust Belt region were among the largest in the U.S. However, by the end of the 20th century, their population had fallen the most in the country.<ref>{{cite news
|last= Hansen
|first= Jeff
|title= Which Way Forward?
|url= http://blog.al.com/bn/2007/03/which_way_forward.html
|access-date= September 21, 2011
|newspaper= The Birmingham News
|date= March 10, 2007
|display-authors= etal
|archive-date= March 4, 2012
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120304062746/http://blog.al.com/bn/2007/03/which_way_forward.html
|url-status= live
}}</ref>

==History==
[[File:US Net International Investment Position.png|thumb|Deteriorating U.S. [[net international investment position]] (NIIP) has caused concern among economists over the effects of outsourcing and high U.S. [[Balance of trade|trade deficits]] over the long-run.<ref name=Bivens />]]
[[File:Cargill S Superior elevator.jpg|thumb|A disused [[grain elevator]] in [[Buffalo, New York]]]]
[[File:Fisher Body plant 21.jpg|thumb|An abandoned [[Fisher Body|Fisher auto body]] plant in [[Detroit]]]]
[[File:The disused Huber coal breaker in Ashley, Pennsylvania.jpg|thumb|The [[Huber Breaker]] in [[Ashley, Pennsylvania]], one of the largest [[anthracite]] [[coal breaker]]s in North America; opened in the 1930s and closed in the 1970s.]]
The linking of the former [[Northwest Territory]] with the once-rapidly industrializing East Coast was effected through several large-scale [[infrastructure|infrastructural projects]], most notably the [[Erie Canal]] in 1825, the [[Baltimore and Ohio Railroad]] in 1830, the [[Allegheny Portage Railroad]] in 1834, and the consolidation of the [[New York Central Railroad]] following the end of the [[American Civil War]] in 1875. A gate was opened between a variety of burgeoning industries on the interior [[North America]]n continent and the markets of large East Coast cities and [[Western Europe]].<ref name=Kunstler>{{cite book|last=Kunstler|first=James Howard|title=Home From Nowhere: Remaking Our Everyday World for the 21st Century|year=1996|publisher=Touchstone/Simon and Schuster|location=New York|isbn=978-0-684-83737-6}}</ref>

Coal, iron ore, and other raw materials were shipped in from surrounding regions which emerged as major ports on the Great Lakes and served as transportation hubs for the region with proximity to railroad lines. Coming in the other direction were millions of European immigrants, who populated the cities along the Great Lakes shores with then-unprecedented speed. Chicago was a rural trading post in the 1840s but grew to be as big as [[Paris]] by the time of the [[World's Columbian Exposition|1893 Columbian Exposition]].<ref name=" Kunstler" />

Early signs of the difficulty in the northern states were evident early in the 20th century before the "boom years" were even over. [[Lowell, Massachusetts]], once the center of textile production in the U.S., was described in the magazine ''[[Harper's Magazine|Harper's]]'' as a "depressed industrial desert" as early as 1931,<ref>{{cite news|last=Marion|first=Paul|title=Timeline of Lowell History From the 1600s to 2009|newspaper=Yankee Magazine|date=November 2009|url=http://www.yankeemagazine.com/article/features/lowell-timeline/2|access-date=December 27, 2015|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304113029/http://www.yankeemagazine.com/article/features/lowell-timeline/2|url-status=dead}}</ref> as its textile concerns were being uprooted and sent southward, primarily to the [[Carolinas]]. 

In the first half of the 20th century, the [[Great Depression]] followed by American entry into World War II was followed by a rapid return to economic growth, during which much of the industrial [[Northern United States|North]] reached its peak population and industrial output.

The northern cities experienced changes that followed the end of World War II, with the onset of the outward migration of residents to newer suburban communities,<ref>{{cite web|title=1990 Population and Maximum Decennial Census Population of Urban Places Ever Among the 100 Largest Urban Places, Listed Alphabetically by State: 1790–1990|url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0027/tab23.txt|publisher=United States Bureau of the Census|access-date=September 22, 2011|archive-date=July 18, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180718120116/https://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0027/tab23.txt|url-status=live}}</ref> and the declining role of manufacturing in the American economy.

Outsourcing of manufacturing jobs in tradeable goods has been an important issue in the region. One source has been globalization and the expansion of worldwide [[free trade]] agreements. Anti-globalization groups argue that trade with developing countries has resulted in stiff competition from countries such as [[China]] which pegs its currency to the dollar and has much lower prevailing wages, forcing domestic wages to drift downward. Some economists are concerned that long-run effects of high [[Balance of trade|trade deficits]] and outsourcing are a cause of economic problems in the U.S.<ref name=Hira>Hira, Ron, and Anil Hira with foreword by Lou Dobbs, (May 2005). ''Outsourcing America: What's Behind Our National Crisis and How We Can Reclaim American Jobs''. (AMACOM) American Management Association. Citing Paul Craig Roberts, Paul Samuelson, and Lou Dobbs, pp. 36–38.</ref> with high [[external debt]] (amount owed to foreign lenders) and a serious deterioration in the United States [[net international investment position]] (NIIP) (−24% of GDP).<ref name=Bivens>Bivens, L. Josh (December 14, 2004). [http://www.epinet.org/Issuebriefs/203/ib203.pdf Debt and the dollar] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041217041437/http://www.epinet.org/Issuebriefs/203/ib203.pdf |date=December 17, 2004 }} ''Economic Policy Institute''. Retrieved on June 28, 2009.</ref><ref name=Cauchon>Cauchon, Dennis, and John Waggoner (October 3, 2004).[https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-10-03-debt-cover_x.htm The Looming National Benefit Crisis] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120929042412/https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-10-03-debt-cover_x.htm |date=September 29, 2012 }}. ''USA Today''.</ref><ref name=Phillips>{{cite book |author=Phillips, Kevin |year=2007 |title=Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism|publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-14-314328-4}}</ref>

Some economists contend that the U.S. is borrowing to fund consumption of imports while accumulating unsustainable amounts of debt.<ref name=Bivens /><ref name=Phillips /> On June 26, 2009, [[Jeff Immelt]], CEO of [[General Electric]], called for the U.S. to increase its manufacturing base employment to 20% of the workforce, commenting that the U.S. has outsourced too much in some areas and can no longer rely on the financial sector and [[consumer spending]] to drive demand.<ref name=Immelt>Bailey, David and Soyoung Kim (June 26, 2009).[https://www.theguardian.com/business/feedarticle/8578904 GE's Immelt says the U.S. economy needs industrial renewal] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150611181851/http://www.theguardian.com/business/feedarticle/8578904 |date=June 11, 2015 }}.''UK Guardian.''. Retrieved on June 28, 2009.</ref>

Since the 1960s, the expansion of worldwide free trade agreements have been less favorable to U.S. workers. Imported goods such as steel cost much less to produce in [[Third World]] countries with cheap foreign labor (see [[steel crisis]]). The introduction of pollution regulation in the late 1960's, combined with rapidly increasing U.S. energy costs (see [[1970s energy crisis]]) caused much U.S. heavy industry to begin moving to other countries. Beginning with the recession of 1970–71, a new pattern of deindustrializing economy emerged. Competitive devaluation combined with each successive downturn saw traditional U.S. [[manufacturing]] workers experiencing lay-offs. In general, in the Factory Belt employment in the manufacturing sector declined by 32.9% between 1969 and 1996.<ref>Kahn, Matthew E. "The silver lining of rust belt manufacturing decline." ''Journal of Urban Economics'' 46, no. 3 (1999): 360–376.</ref>

Wealth-producing primary and secondary sector jobs such as those in manufacturing and computer software were often replaced by much-lower-paying wealth-consuming jobs such as those in retail and government in the [[tertiary sector of the economy|service]] sector when the economy recovered.<ref name=Friedman>David Friedman (Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation). [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-jun-16-op-friedman-story.html No Light at the End of the Tunnel] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230921112800/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-jun-16-op-friedman-story.html |date=September 21, 2023 }}, ''Los Angeles Times'', June 16, 2002.</ref>

In 1984, an incremental expansion of the U.S. trade deficit with China began combined with growing trade deficits with [[Japan]], [[South Korea]], and [[Taiwan]]. As a result, the traditional manufacturing workers in the region have experienced economic upheaval. This effect has devastated government budgets across the U.S. and increased corporate borrowing to fund retiree benefits.<ref name=Cauchon /><ref name=Phillips /> Some economists believe that GDP and employment can be dragged down by large long-run trade deficits.<ref name=Friedman />

==Free trade, deindustrialization and wage deflation==
{{See also|History of tariffs in the United States}}
[[File:U.S. Trade Balance (1895–2015) and Trade Policies.png|thumb|U.S. trade balance and trade policy between 1895 and 2015]]
[[File:Real Income Gains in the Global Population.png|thumb|Real income gains in the global population<ref>https://hbr .org/2016/05/why-the-global-1 and-the-asian-middle-class-have-the-most-from-globalization</ref>]]
In early 2017, [[Joseph Stiglitz]] wrote that "the American middle class is indeed the loser of [[globalization]] or free trade" (the diminution of international trade regulations as well as tariffs, taxes) and "China, with its large emerging middle class, is among the big beneficiaries of globalization". "Thanks to globalization, in terms of purchasing-power parity, China actually has already become the largest economy in the world in September 2015".<ref name=":1">{{cite web|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/02/donald-trump-china-economics-trade|title=Trump's Most Chilling Economic Lie|first=Joseph E.|last=Stiglitz|website=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]|date=17 February 2017}}</ref>

Studies by David Autor, David Dorn and Gordon Hanson show that free trade with [[China]] cost Americans around one million manufacturing workers between 1991 and 2007.Competition from Chinese imports has led to manufacturing job losses and declining wages. They also found that offsetting job gains in other [[Industry (economics)|industries]] never materialized. Closed companies no longer order goods and services from local non-manufacturing firms and former industrial workers may be unemployed for years or permanently. Increased import exposure reduces [[wages]] in the non-manufacturing sector due to lower demand for non-manufacturing goods and increased labor supply from workers who have lost their manufacturing jobs. Other work by this team of economists, with Daron Acemoglu and Brendan Price, estimates that competition from Chinese imports cost the U.S. as many as 2.4 million jobs in total between 1999 and 2011.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Autor |first1=David H. |last2=Dorn |first2=David |last3=Hanson |first3=Gordon H. |date=October 2013 |title=The China Syndrome: Local Labor Market Effects of Import Competition in the United States |url=https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.103.6.2121 |journal=American Economic Review |language=en |volume=103 |issue=6 |pages=2121–2168 |doi=10.1257/aer.103.6.2121 |issn=0002-8282|hdl=10419/69398 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Acemoglu |first1=Daron |last2=Autor |first2=David |last3=Dorn |first3=David |last4=Hanson |first4=Gordon H. |last5=Price |first5=Brendan |date=January 2016 |title=Import Competition and the Great US Employment Sag of the 2000s |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/682384 |url-status=live |journal=Journal of Labor Economics |language=en |volume=34 |issue=S1 |pages=S141–S198 |doi=10.1086/682384 |issn=0734-306X |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210618091001/http://economics.mit.edu/files/9811 |archive-date=2021-06-18|hdl=10419/110869 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

Avraham Ebenstein, Margaret McMillan, Ann Harrison also pointed out in their article “Why are American Workers getting Poorer? China, Trade and Offshoring” these negative effects of trade with China on American workers.<ref>{{Cite report |url=http://www.nber.org/papers/w21027.pdf |title=Why are American Workers getting Poorer? China, Trade and Offshoring |last1=Ebenstein |first1=Avraham |last2=Harrison |first2=Ann |last3=McMillan |first3=Margaret |date=March 2015 |publisher=National Bureau of Economic Research |issue=w21027 |doi=10.3386/w21027 |location=Cambridge, MA |language=en}}</ref>

The [[Economic Policy Institute]], a left-leaning think tank, has claimed that free trade created a large [[trade deficit]] in the United States for decades which lead to the closure of many [[factories]] and cost the United States millions of jobs in the manufacturing sector.  Trade deficits lead to significant wage losses, not only for workers in the manufacturing sector, but also for all workers throughout the economy who do not have a university degree. For example, in 2011, 100 million full-time, full-year workers without a university degree suffered an average loss of $1,800 (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US|value=1800|start_year=2011}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}) on their annual salary.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.epi.org/publication/the-china-toll-deepens-growth-in-the-bilateral-trade-deficit-between-2001-and-2017-cost-3-4-million-u-s-jobs-with-losses-in-every-state-and-congressional-district/|title=The China toll deepens: Growth in the bilateral trade deficit between 2001 and 2017 cost 3.4 million U.S. jobs, with losses in every state and congressional district|website=Economic Policy Institute|access-date=April 26, 2020|archive-date=January 15, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200115022951/https://www.epi.org/publication/the-china-toll-deepens-growth-in-the-bilateral-trade-deficit-between-2001-and-2017-cost-3-4-million-u-s-jobs-with-losses-in-every-state-and-congressional-district/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Economic Policy Institute">{{Cite web|url=https://www.epi.org/publication/standard-models-benchmark-costs-globalization/|title=Using standard models to benchmark the costs of globalization for American workers without a college degree|website=Economic Policy Institute|access-date=April 26, 2020|archive-date=May 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200508124822/https://www.epi.org/publication/standard-models-benchmark-costs-globalization/|url-status=live}}</ref> According to the Economic Policy Institute, the workers who lost their jobs in the manufacturing sector and who have to accept a reduction in their wages to find work in other sectors, are creating competition, that reduces the wages of workers already employed in these other sectors. The threat of [[offshoring]] of production facilities leads workers to accept wage cuts to keep their jobs.<ref name="Economic Policy Institute"/>

According to the Economic Policy Institute, trade agreements have not reduced trade deficits but rather increased them. The growing [[trade deficit]] with China comes from China's manipulation of its [[currency]], dumping policies, subsidies, [[trade]] barriers that give it a very important advantage in international trade. In addition, industrial jobs lost by imports from China are significantly better paid than jobs created by exports to China. So even if imports were equal to exports, workers would still lose out on their wages.<ref name="Epi.org">{{cite web |url=https://www.epi.org/publication/trading-manufacturing-advantage-china-trade/ |title=Trading away the manufacturing advantage: China trade drives down U.S. wages and benefits and eliminates good jobs for U.S. workers &#124; Economic Policy Institute |publisher=Epi.org |access-date=2019-10-07 |archive-date=April 18, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418060958/https://www.epi.org/publication/trading-manufacturing-advantage-china-trade/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

According to the Economic Policy Institute, the manufacturing sector is a sector with very high [[productivity]] growth, which promotes high wages and good benefits for its workers. Indeed, this sector accounts for more than two thirds of private sector research and development and employs more than twice as many scientists and engineers as the rest of the economy. The manufacturing sector therefore provides a very important stimulus to overall economic growth. Manufacturing is also associated with well-paid service jobs such as accounting, business management, research and development and legal services. [[Deindustrialisation]] is therefore also leading to a significant loss of these service jobs. Deindustrialization thus means the disappearance of a very important driver of economic growth.<ref name="Epi.org"/>

In 2010, [[Paul Krugman]] called for a general tariff rate of 25% on all Chinese products to halt the deindustrialization of the United States and the offshoring of American industries and factories to China. Paul Krugman notes that the trade deficit caused by free trade has been detrimental to the U.S. manufacturing sector: “There is no doubt that increased imports, particularly from China, have reduced manufacturing employment..., the complete elimination of the U.S. manufacturing trade deficit would add about two million manufacturing jobs.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Krugman |first=Paul |date=2016-07-04 |title=Opinion {{!}} Trump, Trade and Workers |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/04/opinion/trump-trade-and-workers.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241204094645/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/04/opinion/trump-trade-and-workers.html |archive-date=2024-12-04 |access-date=2024-12-13 |work=The New York Times |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Economist's View: Paul Krugman: Trump, Trade and Workers |url=https://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2016/07/paul-krugman-trump-trade-and-workers.html |access-date=2024-12-13 |website=economistsview.typepad.com}}</ref> He expected Chinese surpluses to destroy 1.4 million American jobs by 2011. He therefore proposed taxing the products of certain countries to force them to readjust their currencies.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Krugman |first=Paul |date=2010-03-15 |title=Opinion {{!}} Taking On China |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/opinion/15krugman.html?src=me |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241209091243/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/opinion/15krugman.html?src=me |archive-date=2024-12-09 |access-date=2024-12-13 |work=The New York Times |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Economist's View: Paul Krugman: Taking On China |url=https://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2010/09/paul-krugman-taking-on-china.html |access-date=2024-12-13 |website=economistsview.typepad.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Krugman |first=Paul |date=2009-12-31 |title=Macroeconomic effects of Chinese mercantilism |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/macroeconomic-effects-of-chinese-mercantilism/ |access-date=2024-12-13 |website=Paul Krugman Blog |language=en}}</ref>

===Outcomes===
[[File:2020 census reapportionment.svg|thumb|Every state that lost a House seat due to population loss following the [[2020 United States census|2020 census]], except [[California]], is part of the Rust Belt.]]
In 1999, [[Francis Fukuyama]] wrote that the social and cultural consequences of deindustrialization and manufacturing decline that turned a former thriving Factory Belt into a Rust Belt as a part of a bigger transitional trend that he called the ''Great Disruption'':<ref>Fukuyama, Francis. ''The Great Disruption: Human Nature and the Reconstitution of Social Order''. New York: Free Press, 1999.</ref> "People associate the information age with the advent of the Internet in the 1990s, but the shift from the industrial era started more than a generation earlier, with the deindustrialization of the Rust Belt in the United States and comparable movements away from manufacturing in other industrialized countries. … The decline is readily measurable in statistics on crime, fatherless children, broken trust, reduced opportunities for and outcomes from education, and the like".<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Fukuyama |first=Francis |date=May 1999 |title=Human Nature and the Reconstruction of Social Order |url=https://spot.colorado.edu/~mcguire/disruption.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180715074054/http://www.wesjones.com/fukuyama.htm |archive-date=2018-07-15 |access-date=2024-12-13 |magazine=The Atlantic |pages=55–80 |volume=283 |issue=5}}</ref>

Problems associated with the Rust Belt persist even today, particularly around the eastern Great Lakes states, and many once-booming manufacturing metropolises dramatically slowed down.<ref>Feyrer, James, Bruce Sacerdote, and Ariel Dora Stern. [https://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/brookings-wharton_papers_on_urban_affairs/v2007/2007.1saiz.pdf Did the Rust Belt Become Shiny? A Study of Cities and Counties That Lost Steel and Auto Jobs in the 1980s] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305003441/https://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=%2Fjournals%2Fbrookings-wharton_papers_on_urban_affairs%2Fv2007%2F2007.1saiz.pdf |date=March 5, 2016 }}. ''Brookings-Wharton Papers on Urban Affairs'' (2007): 41–102.</ref> From 1970 to 2006, Cleveland, Detroit, Buffalo, and Pittsburgh lost about 45% of their population and median household incomes fell: in Cleveland and Detroit by about 30%, in Buffalo by 20%, and Pittsburgh by 10%.<ref>Daniel Hartley. "Urban Decline in Rust-Belt Cities." Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland Economic Commentary, Number 2013-06, May 20, 2013. [https://web.archive.org/web/20130730195948/http://www.clevelandfed.org/research/commentary/2013/2013-06.pdf PDF]</ref>

During the mid-1990s, several Rust Belt metropolitan areas experienced a suspension in negative growth, indicated by stabilizing unemployment, wages, and populations.<ref>Glenn King. Census Brief: "Rust Belt" Rebounds, CENBR/98-7, Issued December 1998. [https://www.census.gov/prod/99pubs/cenbr987.pdf PDF] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180718104854/https://www.census.gov/prod/99pubs/cenbr987.pdf |date=July 18, 2018 }}</ref> During the first decade of the 21st century, however, a negative trend still persisted: Detroit, Michigan lost 25.7% of its population; Gary, Indiana, 22%; Youngstown, Ohio, 18.9%; Flint, Michigan, 18.7%; and Cleveland, Ohio, 14.5%.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323687604578467134234625160 |title=Mark Peters, Jack Nicas. "Rust Belt Reaches for Immigration Tide", ''The Wall Street Journal'', May 13, 2013, A3. |work=Wall Street Journal |date=May 12, 2013 |access-date=August 8, 2017 |archive-date=December 27, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191227004220/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323687604578467134234625160 |url-status=live |last1=Peters |first1=Mark |last2=Nicas |first2=Jack }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible" border="1" style="text-align:right"
|+2000–2020 population change in Rust Belt cities
|-
! rowspan="2" | City
! rowspan="2" | State
! colspan="4" | Population
|-
! change !! 2020<ref name="USCensusEst2018">{{cite web |title=City and Town Population Totals: 2020-2021 |url=https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/2020s-total-cities-and-towns.html |access-date=March 12, 2023 |website=United States Census Bureau |archive-date=July 11, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220711040810/https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/2020s-total-cities-and-towns.html |url-status=live }}</ref>!! 2000
! Peak
|-
| align=left| [[Detroit|Detroit, Michigan]] || [[Michigan]] || -32.81%|| 639,111 || 951,270
|1,849,568 (1950)
|-
| align=left| [[Gary, Indiana]] || [[Indiana]] || -31.97% || 69,903 || 102,746
|178,320 (1960)
|-
| align=left| [[Flint, Michigan]] || Michigan || -34.97% || 81,252 || 124,943
|196,940 (1960)
|-
| align=left| [[Saginaw, Michigan]] || Michigan || -28.47% || 44,202 || 61,799
|98,265 (1960)
|-
| align=left| [[Youngstown, Ohio]] || [[Ohio]] || -26.77% || 60,068 || 82,026
|170,002 (1930)
|-
| align=left| [[Cleveland|Cleveland, Ohio]] || Ohio || -22.11% || 372,624 || 478,403
|914,808 (1950)
|-
| align=left| [[Dayton, Ohio]] || Ohio || -17.17% || 137,644 || 166,179
|262,332 (1960)
|-
| align=left| [[Niagara Falls, New York]] || [[New York (state)|New York]] || -12.45% || 48,671 || 55,593
|102,394 (1960)
|-
| align=left| [[Baltimore, Maryland]] || [[Maryland]] || -5.7% || 585,708 || 620,961
|949,708 (1950)
|-
| align=left| [[St. Louis|St. Louis, Missouri]] || [[Missouri]] || -13.39% || 301,578 || 348,189
|856,796 (1950)
|-
| align=left| [[Decatur, Illinois]] || [[Illinois]] || -13.85% || 70,522 || 81,860
|94,081 (1980)
|-
| align=left| [[Canton, Ohio]] || Ohio || -12.29% || 70,872 || 80,806 
|116,912 (1950)
|-
| align=left| [[Buffalo, New York]] || New York || -4.89% || 278,349 || 292,648
|580,132 (1950)
|-
| align=left| [[Toledo, Ohio]] || Ohio || -13.63% || 270,871 || 313,619	
|383,818 (1970)
|-
| align=left| [[Lakewood, Ohio]] || Ohio || -10.07% || 50,942 || 56,646	
|70,509 (1930)
|-
| align=left| [[Pittsburgh|Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]] || [[Pennsylvania]] || -9.44% || 302,971 || 334,563
|676,806 (1950)
|-
| align=left| [[Pontiac, Michigan]] || Michigan || -7.13% || 61,606 || 66,337
|85,279 (1970)
|-
| align=left| [[Springfield, Ohio]] || Ohio || -10.25% || 58,662 || 65,358
|82,723 (1960)
|-
| align=left| [[Akron, Ohio]] || Ohio || -12.26% || 190,469 || 217,074
|290,351 (1960)
|-
| align=left| [[Hammond, Indiana]] || Indiana || -6.22% || 77,879 || 83,048
|111,698 (1960)
|-
| align=left| [[Cincinnati|Cincinnati, Ohio]] || Ohio || -6.63% || 309,317 || 331,285
|503,998 (1950)
|-
| align=left| [[Parma, Ohio]] || Ohio || -5.26% || 81,146 || 85,655
|100,216 (1970)
|-
| align=left| [[Lorain, Ohio]] || Ohio || -6.74% || 64,028 || 68,652
|78,185 (1970)
|-
| align=left| [[Chicago|Chicago, Illinois]] || Illinois || -5.17% || 2,746,388 || 2,896,016
|3,620,962 (1950)
|-
| align=left| [[South Bend, Indiana]] || Indiana || -4.02% || 103,453 || 107,789
|132,445 (1960)
|-
| align=left| [[Charleston, West Virginia]] || [[West Virginia]] || -8.53% || 48,864|| 53,421
|85,796 (1960)
|}

In the late 2000s, American manufacturing recovered faster from the [[Great Recession]] of 2008 than the other sectors of the economy,<ref>{{cite news|title=Rustbelt recovery: Against all the odds, American factories are coming back to life. Thank the rest of the world for that|url=https://www.economist.com/node/18332894|access-date=September 21, 2011|newspaper=The Economist|date=March 10, 2011|archive-date=July 24, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170724221826/http://www.economist.com/node/18332894|url-status=live}} [http://www.acmeind.com/wp-content/uploads/Economist_Rustbelt_Recovery_031011.pdf PDF] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170611024302/http://www.acmeind.com/wp-content/uploads/Economist_Rustbelt_Recovery_031011.pdf |date=June 11, 2017 }}</ref> and a number of initiatives, both public and private, are encouraging the development of alternative fuel, nano and other technologies.<ref>{{cite news|title=Greening the rustbelt: In the shadow of the climate bill, the industrial Midwest begins to get ready|url=https://www.economist.com/node/14214855|access-date=September 21, 2011|newspaper=The Economist|date=August 13, 2009|archive-date=February 16, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180216210318/http://www.economist.com/node/14214855|url-status=live}}</ref> 

Along with the neighboring [[Golden Horseshoe]] of southern [[Ontario]], the Rust Belt composes one of the world's major manufacturing regions.<ref>{{cite web|last=Beyers|first=William|title=Major Manufacturing Regions of the World|url=https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:fnpUF-Xs3KYJ:faculty.washington.edu/beyers/Chapter7_Warf.ppt+manufacturing+regions+of+the+world&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgeUfyEVJ5-UCp5x3EGgctSVlVRoGItKLn-AVIw0gHisfIXJfVXNS0dClkwio0EWrpZ3SoH8Pfw2z0ryZ2eV8thdhyVXBYU3abQthuNuf8L4Dkj1O1DhZ22H7OWQNI_K9VdPqPX&sig=AHIEtbTNoQ3I1K5J25TpcXYenB0tMs3lIg|publisher=Department of Geography, the University of Washington|access-date=September 21, 2011|archive-date=December 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211224173113/https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache%3AfnpUF-Xs3KYJ%3Afaculty.washington.edu%2Fbeyers%2FChapter7_Warf.ppt+manufacturing+regions+of+the+world&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgeUfyEVJ5-UCp5x3EGgctSVlVRoGItKLn-AVIw0gHisfIXJfVXNS0dClkwio0EWrpZ3SoH8Pfw2z0ryZ2eV8thdhyVXBYU3abQthuNuf8L4Dkj1O1DhZ22H7OWQNI_K9VdPqPX&sig=AHIEtbTNoQ3I1K5J25TpcXYenB0tMs3lIg|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20230213085028/http://www.maderacountyedc.com/mcedc_feb2013/mfg213.pdf Rust Belt is still the heart of U.S. manufacturing]</ref>

===Transformation===
Delving into the past and musing on the future of Rust Belt states, a 2010 [[Brookings Institution]] report suggests that the Great Lakes region has a sizable potential for transformation, citing already existing global trade networks, clean energy/low carbon capacity, developed innovation infrastructure, and higher educational network.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Vey |first1=Jennifer S. |last2=Austin |first2=John C. |last3=Bradley |first3=Jennifer |date=September 27, 2010 |title=The Next Economy: Economic Recovery and Transformation in the Great Lakes Region |url=https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-next-economy-economic-recovery-and-transformation-in-the-great-lakes-region/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116001246/https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-next-economy-economic-recovery-and-transformation-in-the-great-lakes-region/ |archive-date=November 16, 2018 |access-date=May 25, 2020 |publisher=Brookings Institution Paper}}</ref>

Different strategies were proposed in order to reverse the fortunes of the former Factory Belt including building casinos and convention centers, retaining the creative class through arts and downtown renewal, encouraging the knowledge economy type of entrepreneurship, and other steps. This includes growing new industrial base with a pool of skilled labor, rebuilding the infrastructure and infrasystems, creating research and development-focused university-business partnerships, and close cooperation between central, state and local government, and business.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Kotkin |first1=Joel |last2=Schill |first2=March |last3=Streeter |first3=Ryan |date=February 2012 |title=Clues From The Past: The Midwest As An Aspirational Region |url=http://www.newgeography.com/files/MIDWEST-ASPIRATIONAL-REGION-2012.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200601103914/http://www.newgeography.com/files/MIDWEST-ASPIRATIONAL-REGION-2012.pdf |archive-date=June 1, 2020 |access-date=June 7, 2013 |publisher=Sagamore Institute}}</ref>

New types of research and development-intensive nontraditional manufacturing have emerged recently in the Rust Belt, including [[biotechnology]], the [[Polymer science|polymer]] industry, [[Information technology|infotech]], and [[Nanotechnology|nanotech]]. [[Information technology]] is seen as representing an opportunity for the Rust Belt's revitalization.<ref>{{cite web |date=May 19, 2013 |title=Silicon Rust Belt » Rethink The Rust Belt |url=http://siliconrustbelt.com/rethink-the-rust-belt/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180821111513/http://siliconrustbelt.com/rethink-the-rust-belt/ |archive-date=August 21, 2018 |access-date=May 29, 2013}}</ref> Among the successful recent examples is the [[Detroit Aircraft Corporation]], which specializes in unmanned aerial systems integration, testing and aerial cinematography services.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.iflyasx.com/|title=ASX – Airspace Experience Technologies – Detroit MI – VTOL|website=ASX|access-date=June 23, 2019|archive-date=June 13, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200613210358/https://www.iflyasx.com/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In Pittsburgh, robotics research centers and companies such as the [[National Robotics Engineering Center]] and [[Robotics Institute]], Aethon Inc., American Robot Corporation, [[Automatika]], [[Quantapoint]], Blue Belt Technologies, and Seegrid are creating state-of-the-art robotic technology applications. [[Akron, Ohio|Akron]], a former "Rubber Capital of the World" that lost 35,000 jobs after major tire and rubber manufacturers [[Goodrich Corporation|Goodrich]], [[Firestone Tire and Rubber Company|Firestone]], and [[General Tire]] closed their production lines, is now again well known around the world as a center of polymer research with four hundred polymer-related manufacturing and distribution companies operating in the area. The turnaround was accomplished in part by a partnership between [[Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company|Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company]], which chose to stay, the [[University of Akron]], and the city mayor's office. The Akron Global Business Accelerator that jump-started a score of successful business ventures in Akron resides in the refurbished B.F. Goodrich tire factory.<ref>{{cite news |author=Sherry Karabin |url=http://www.akronlegalnews.com/editorial/7004 |title=Mayor says attitude is key to Akron's revitalization |website=The Akron Legal News |date=May 16, 2013 |access-date=June 6, 2013 |archive-date=July 15, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170715070514/http://www.akronlegalnews.com/editorial/7004 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[3D printing|Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing]], creates another promising avenue for the manufacturing resurgence. Such companies as MakerGear from [[Beachwood, Ohio]], or ExOne Company from [[North Huntingdon Township, Pennsylvania|North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania]], are designing and manufacturing industrial and consumer products using 3-D imaging systems.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.post-gazette.com/business/businessnews/2013/06/13/Conference-in-Pittsburgh-shows-growing-allure-of-3-D-printing/stories/201306130342 |title=Conference in Pittsburgh shows growing allure of 3-D printing |author=Len Boselovic |publisher=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=June 13, 2013 |access-date=May 25, 2020 |archive-date=December 30, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171230075311/http://www.post-gazette.com/business/businessnews/2013/06/13/Conference-in-Pittsburgh-shows-growing-allure-of-3-D-printing/stories/201306130342 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2013, ''[[The Economist]]'' reported a growing trend of [[Insourcing#Terminology|reshoring]], or [[inshoring]], of manufacturing when a growing number of American companies were moving their production facilities from overseas back home.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21569570-growing-number-american-companies-are-moving-their-manufacturing-back-united |title=Coming home: A growing number of American companies are moving their manufacturing back to the United States |newspaper=The Economist |date=January 19, 2013 |access-date=June 20, 2013 |archive-date=June 22, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130622030754/http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21569570-growing-number-american-companies-are-moving-their-manufacturing-back-united |url-status=live }}</ref> Rust Belt states can ultimately benefit from this process of international [[insourcing]].

There have also been attempts to reinvent properties in the Rust Belt in order to reverse its economic decline. Buildings with compartmentalization unsuitable for today's uses were acquired and renewed to facilitate new businesses. These business activities suggest that the revival is taking place in the once-stagnant area.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/rust-belt-states-reinvent-their-abandoned-industrial-landscapes-1.3746893|title=Rust Belt states reinvent their abandoned industrial landscapes|last1=Dayton|first1=Stephen Starr in|last2=Ohio|newspaper=The Irish Times|language=en|date=January 5, 2019|access-date=January 26, 2020|archive-date=November 7, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201107234522/https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/rust-belt-states-reinvent-their-abandoned-industrial-landscapes-1.3746893|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[CHIPS and Science Act]], which became effective in August 2022, was designed to rebuild the manufacturing sector with thousands of jobs and research programs in states like Ohio focusing on making products like semiconductors due to the [[2020–2023 global chip shortage|global chip shortage of the early 2020s]].<ref name="NBC News 2022">{{cite web | title=Biden touts computer chips bill in battleground Ohio amid tight Senate race | website=NBC News | date=September 9, 2022 | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/biden-tout-computer-chips-bill-battleground-ohio-tight-senate-race-rcna46986 | access-date=October 11, 2022 | archive-date=October 10, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221010221119/https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/biden-tout-computer-chips-bill-battleground-ohio-tight-senate-race-rcna46986 | url-status=live }}</ref>

==In popular culture==
The Rust Belt is depicted in various films, television shows, and songs. It is the subject of the popular [[Billy Joel]] song, "[[Allentown (song)|Allentown]]," originally released on ''[[The Nylon Curtain]]'' album in 1982. The song uses Allentown as a metaphor for the resilience of [[working class]] Americans in distressed industrial cities during the [[recession]] of the early 1980s.

Similarly to Billy Joel, [[Bruce Springsteen]] released an album in the mid 1990s titled ''[[The Ghost of Tom Joad]]'' which featured the single "[[Youngstown (song)|Youngstown]]". The lyrics chronicle the beginning of [[Economy of Youngstown, Ohio|industry in the Ohio city]] to its decline throughout the 1970s and 1980s, resulting in the economic and social decline of the city up to the mid 1990s.

The Rust Belt is the setting for [[Philipp Meyer|Philipp Meyer's]] 2009 novel ''[[American Rust]]'' and its 2021 [[American Rust (TV series)|television adaptation]]. A core [[plot device]] of both is the [[Societal collapse|economic, social, and population decline]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Philipp Meyer |url=http://www.full-stop.net/2011/02/14/interviews/alex/philipp-meyer/ |access-date=August 8, 2022 |language=en |archive-date=August 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808115206/http://www.full-stop.net/2011/02/14/interviews/alex/philipp-meyer/ |url-status=live }}</ref> facing the fictional Western Pennsylvanian town of Buell, itself brought about by thorough de-industrialization typical of the region.<ref>{{Cite web |title=American Rust (Official Series Site) Watch on Showtime |url=https://www.sho.com/american-rust |access-date=August 8, 2022 |website=SHO.com |language=en-US |archive-date=August 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220821184452/https://www.sho.com/american-rust |url-status=live }}</ref>

The 21st century evolution of this region of the U.S. is also depicted through the fictional town of New Canaan, Ohio, in [[Stephen Markley]]'s 2018 bestseller novel, ''Ohio''. The town is described through both the teenage glamour of high school lens in the early 2000s and the harsh reality lens of what the town became 10 years later.

==See also==
{{portal|United States|Economy|Geography}}
{{cols|colwidth=26em}}
* [[Corn Belt]]
* [[Decline of Detroit]]
* [[Deindustrialization]]
* [[Dutch disease]]
* [[Early 1980s recession in the United States]]
* [[Economy of Allentown, Pennsylvania]]
* [[Economy of the United States]]
* [[Economy of Youngstown, Ohio]]
* [[Modern ruins]]
* [[Outsourcing]]
* [[Shrinking city]]
* [[Snowbelt]]
* [[Steel City]]
* [[Steel crisis]]
* [[Sunbelt]]
* [[Urban decay]]
{{colend}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|40em}}
* {{cite book|author=Broughton, Chad|title=Boom, Bust, Exodus: The Rust Belt, the Maquilas, and a Tale of Two Cities|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2015|isbn=978-0199765614|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PWc3BQAAQBAJ|access-date=August 24, 2020|archive-date=September 22, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240922205015/https://books.google.com/books?id=PWc3BQAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}
* Cooke, Philip. ''The Rise of the Rustbelt''. London: UCL Press, 1995. {{ISBN|0-203-13454-0}}
* Coppola, Alessandro. ''Apocalypse town: cronache dalla fine della civiltà urbana''. Roma: Laterza, 2012. {{ISBN|9788842098409}}
* Denison, Daniel R., and Stuart L. Hart. ''Revival in the rust belt''. Ann Arbor, Mich: University of Michigan Press, 1987. {{ISBN|0-87944-322-7}}
* Engerman, Stanley L., and Robert E. Gallman. ''The Cambridge Economic History of the United States: The Twentieth Century''. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
* Hagedorn, John, and Perry Macon. ''People and Folks: Gangs, Crime, and the Underclass in a Rust-Belt City''. Chicago: Lake View Press, 1988. {{ISBN|0-941702-21-9}}
* High, Steven C. ''Industrial Sunset: The Making of North America's Rust Belt, 1969–1984''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003. {{ISBN|0-8020-8528-8}}
* Higgins, James Jeffrey. ''Images of the Rust Belt''. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1999. {{ISBN|0-87338-626-4}}
* Lopez, Steven Henry. ''Reorganizing the Rust Belt: An Inside Study of the American Labor Movement''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004. {{ISBN|0-520-23565-7}}
* {{cite journal|last=Meyer|first=David R.|title=Midwestern Industrialization and the American Manufacturing Belt in the Nineteenth Century|volume= 49|issue= 4 |pages=921–937|journal=The Journal of Economic History|year=1989|doi=10.1017/S0022050700009505|issn=0022-0507|jstor=2122744|s2cid=154436086 }}
* Preston, Richard. ''American Steel''. New York: Avon Books, 1992. {{ISBN|0-13-029604-X}}
* Rotella, Carlo. ''Good with Their Hands: Boxers, Bluesmen, and Other Characters from the Rust Belt''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002. {{ISBN|0-520-22562-7}}
* [[Jon C. Teaford|Teaford, Jon C.]] ''Cities of the Heartland: The Rise and Fall of the Industrial Midwest''. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993. {{ISBN|0-253-35786-1}}
* Warren, Kenneth. ''The American Steel Industry, 1850–1970: A Geographical Interpretation''. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973. {{ISBN|0-8229-3597-X}}
* Winant, Gabriel. ''The Next Shift: The Fall of Industry and the Rise of Health Care in Rust Belt America'' (Harvard University Press, 2021), focus on Pittsburgh
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{commons}}
* [http://www.coalcampusa.com/rustbelt/rustbelt.htm Industrial Heartland map and photographs]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20121110031800/http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/Picture%201.png Rust Belt map]
* [http://libx.bsu.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/ChngGrsDoc Changing Gears Documentary Film Collection] Digital Media Repository, Ball State University Libraries
* [https://exchange.umma.umich.edu/resources/23852 Collection: "Rust Belt" at the University of Michigan Museum of Art]

{{U.S. Belt regions}}
{{authority control}}

[[Category:1980 establishments in the United States]]
[[Category:1980s neologisms]]
[[Category:Belt regions of the United States]]
[[Category:Deindustrialization]]
[[Category:Economy of the Midwestern United States]]
[[Category:Economy of the Northeastern United States]]
[[Category:Great Lakes region (U.S.)]]
[[Category:Urban decay in the United States]]
[[Category:1973 oil crisis]]