Post-Recession America: A New Economic Geography?

America is just now starting to invent its post-recession economic future. The Great 2007–2009 Recession was the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.That is not surprising since the two largest absolute annual private sector employment losses since payroll statistics were first compiled in 1939 took place in 2009 and 2008. But what is surprising is that the Great Recession may also turn out to have been the great equalizer across the nation’s states and regions. A number of America’s former economic high-flyers were grievously wounded during the downturn and their weaknesses exposed. As a result, conventional assumptions about their future economic prospects— as consistent national growth leaders—may now come into question.This report was published as Issue Paper Number 3, July 2010, in Advance & Rutgers Report