| This study analyzed the specific conditions that influence changes in a region's manufacturing employment and offers an explanation for the decentralization and deindustrialization of urban centers. The primary focus of this study is Chicago, but my analysis also includes Milwaukee, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Indianapolis manufacturing employment.; The goals of urban economic development policies are varied and many times complex, but a common objective is the reduction of unemployment. A large amount of earlier research examines the general effects of urban deindustrialization on earnings and employment, this research utilizes economic constructs of spatial aggregate job creation and growth. It also develops a framework for measuring transnational investment as an independent variable and the underclass as a dependent variable.; This study includes descriptive information on regional employment from 1967 to 1998 and employment statistics for each metro area and central city. A model was developed to test the relationship of the variables of manufacturing employment, the level of U.S. direct investment abroad in manufacturing, including chemicals and allied products, primary and fabricated metals, machinery, electric and electronic equipment, transportation equipment, food and kindred products, and other manufacturing, and net property value of both plant and equipment. The model was estimated using Ordinary-Least Squares Simple Regression Analysis. The results of the estimation indicate that there is a causal linkage between the level of national manufacturing employment, urban manufacturing employment and the level of U.S. direct investment abroad.; The focus of this study is the impact that transnational disinvestment and the liberalization and mobility of manufacturing investment capital, may have on the level of manufacturing employment, income growth, and concentration of minority poverty in the urban centers. The quantitative model and statistical results of the study are supplemented with journalistic reports. An alternative explanation of transnational investment employed a Two-Staged Least Squares Regression model using national data, with results that support the hypothesis that the decision to locate manufacturing investment capital is a market driven decision. The results of this model are not contrary to the original hypothesis that the decision to locate manufacturing investment capital is also based on racial composition and concentration. The results of this research indicates that both race and economic factors contribute to the decisions to locate manufacturing investment capital. Finally, the study includes a case study of a major Midwest manufacturing company, with interviews of two company vice-presidents.; The results of this exploratory study confirm that there is a correlation between the level of manufacturing employment and the mobility of capital, that income growth is significantly affected, and that the decision to locate manufacturing investment capital is predominately, but not exclusively a market driven decision, which affects the urban underclass and urban political economy. |
