Question

Discuss about Uneven Development after COVID-19 crisis

Answer 1

With the national economy virtually immobilized as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it may seem as though the crisis will dampen the issue of regional economic divergence and its pattern of booming superstar cities and depressed, left-behind places. Indeed, the pandemic could exacerbate the unevenness of America's divergent economy, with disturbing consequences.

Though COVID-19 is quickly spreading throughout the world, as of April 7, only three states New York, New Jersey, and California account for 53 per cent of U.S. cases. An earlier analysis of Brookings Metro showed that the 50 counties with the most cases of COVID-19 lie within metro areas, accounting for 48 percent of U.S. economic output and 44 percent of employment. In that context, it is not shocking that Seattle, New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area and their wealthy suburbs were the earliest and hardest hit by the global pandemic in that nation's most internationally connected cities.

In other words, the geographic pattern of the spread of the virus in the US has only highlighted America's superstar economic geography, albeit in a terrible manner. If anything, Coronavirus could help build a more geographically equilibrated economy. And indeed, it's likely that for the first time many white collar workers working remotely will realize that they can do their jobs from anywhere, sparking drives to less costly areas of the world that need economic revitalisation.

Economic activity has become no less concentrated despite the increasing adoption of digital technology in American workplaces. It bears note that the tech sector boomed in the decade after the Great Recession in a way that greatly intensified the concentration of innovation workers and firms in just a few major cities including San Francisco, Seattle, New York, San Diego, Boston and Austin, Texas. Nor did a long list of negative side-effects of this bumper-to-bumper hyperconcentration traffic, spiraling housing shortages, a homelessness crisis reverse the dynamic.

The outlook is equally bleak outside of the country's urban centres. Less densely populated areas can face COVID-19 outbreaks later than urban areas, but in responding to such outbreaks rural communities face specific health care challenges. While cities can address the health disadvantage of high population density by closing bars and restaurants and curtailing public gatherings, rural areas can not overnight restore lost medical infrastructure. Underinvestment in these communities is reflected in their health care systems from the lack of high-speed, accessible access to diminishing job prospects, a fact that leaves these communities especially vulnerable now.