THE TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL DYNAMICS OF INCOME AND POPULATION-GROWTH IN OHIO, 1950-1990

The regional dynamics literature has tended to pay more attention to r egional variation of growth than to variation within states, although the latter defines the disaggregated realities that public officials a nd policy makers are most concerned with. This paper focuses on spatia l variation of growth within a state. Using Ohio as a case study, two hypotheses are extracted from the literature. First, the theories of p olarization and polarization reversal suggest that in the old industri al core the leading sector role of manufacturing has diminished in old manufacturing poles, and that income growth trends differ substantial ly between these old poles and new centres of development. Second, the theories of suburbanization and migration reversals suggest that popu lation growth is contingent upon level of urbanization, and that the r elationship has changed drastically between the pre-1970s, 1970s and p ost-1970s periods. The hypotheses are generally supported by the empir ical analysis, which involves description of growth trends, and model construction and estimation using the expansion method. The findings p rovide evidence for spatial restructuring that is unfolding within the old industrial core, and illustrate the importance of linking dynamic s at the regional and subregional levels. Finally, this paper discusse s policy implications based on the research findings and suggests futu re research tasks.