Inbreeding Homophily

Arguing that too much social capital, not globalization, killed Rust Belt cities at Pacific Standard magazine.

Theme: The benefits of bowling alone.

Subject Article: "The Recession That Always Was: For some Millennials, the new economy looks a lot like the old one."

Other Links: 1. "Migrant Networks and the Spread of Misinformation."
2. "One Path to Better Jobs: More Density in Cities."
3. "Social Capital And Geographic Mobility."
4. "American Decline."
5. "Mobility Paradox."
6. "Middle Class Boom."
7. "Why the Garden Club Couldn’t Save Youngstown: Civic Infrastructure and Mobilization in Economic Crises."

Postscript: Reading books such as "Nothin' but Blue Skies" and "Caught in the Middle: America's Heartland in the Age of Globalism", you could be forgiven for thinking globalization caused the Rust Belt. That's conventional wisdom. However, I contend that globalization has avoided the Rust Belt. The absence of global connectivity doomed the region to economic isolation. People stopped coming to Pittsburgh, stifling knowledge transfer and amassing impenetrable amounts of social capital. Parochial attitudes are bunkers of defense against the intrusion of globalization. Splendid isolation meant you had to go elsewhere for economic development.