The Legacy of World War II for Regional Growth and Decline: The Cumulative Effects of Wartime Investments on U.S. Manufacturing, 1947–1972*

This research examines the effects of Federal investments made during World War II on the regional restructuring of the U.S. in the postwar era. Using data on federalindustrial investments made in each county during World War II, this study traces the postwar disposition of these facilities, including the sizeable portfolio of industrial assets in the possession of the Department of Defense as of 1955. The effects of World War II investments on local manufacturing are estimated by tracing the lagged effects of those investments on local manufacturing growth in the postwar period. World War II investments made a sizeable and significant contribution to growth in manufacturing in the 1947–72 period. Moreover, economic areas in the South and West were the big “winners” in terms of the cumulative effects of World War II investments, while areas in the North and East were the big “losers.”