Monday, August 17, 2009
Pittsburgh Manufacturing Revival Seen As Model For Other Cities
IndustryWeek (8/12) reported, "Pittsburgh's revival is due to the high degree of collaboration between industry, labor and government, according to Sen. Bob Casey," who added that "a specifically designed industrial policy brought Pittsburgh back, not market forces." The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center has "replaced U.S. Steel as the region's largest employer," and "the manufacturing base diversified into products ranging from advanced metal alloys to surgical implants and sophisticated robotics." Pittsburgh's progress, "as well as the issues that still must be addressed, is the subject of [a] report, 'Pittsburgh the Rest of the Story' released...by the Campaign for America's Future. The city of Pittsburgh is often given as an example of a locale that has successfully made the transition from the old to the new, explained Robert Borosage, co-director of the Campaign for America's Future."
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A recent Business Week article "Can the Future be Built in America" calls for a national industrial policy to ensure that R&D innovations developed in the U.S. lead to domestic manufacturing, rather than being commercialized offshore. This is a departure from much conventional economic thinking. The danger is that out-of-touch bureaucrats will be empowered to "pick winners", resulting in forced redistribution of funds (through taxation) from profitable industries to those sectors favored by the bureaucrats or their political bosses. On the other hand, something needs to be done differently if the U.S. manufacturing sector is to survive. Perhaps the success in Pittsburgh points the way: first develop local or regional industrial strategies;then build a national strategy from the bottom up. Municipal governments seem to be closer to the people than higher level ones.
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