Economicoutlook.

• Author: Maley, Frank

North Carolina's society has become multicultural, its economy has become more diverse, and the state has prospered in recent decades. But leaders must adjust their policies for a more metropolitan economy .--focused on cities and suburbs--and address a widening disparity between rich and poor, says Ferrel Guillory, director of The Program on Public Life at UNC Chapel Hill.

RIDING ON THE METROS Earnings generated in metropolitan areas are growing faster than those in rural parts of North Carolina. 2006(millions) change from 2000 1 Virginia Beach * $227.0 59.3% 2 Jacksonville 4,528.3 57.1 3 Fayetteville 10,220.3 52.8 4 Wilmington 6,773.0 42.0 5 Raleigh-Cary 28,123.6 39.9 6 Charlotte 50,233.2 39.4 7 Durham 18,048.9 26.4 8 Asheville 7,954.3 25.0 9 Greenville 3,313.7 23.1 10 Goldsboro 2,142.8 22.5 All metro areas 174,825.6 32.1 Rural counties 44,127.7 21.1 *Currituck County only † North Carolina counties only Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis Aside from the obvious--Research Triangle Park, higher education, technology, globalization--what have been the key agents of change in the state economy since 1950?

The enactment of liquor-by-the-drink laws gave us the ability to have a fine restaurant industry right at the time knowledge workers wanted more amenities. Favorable interstate banking rules were passed right at the time major figures of Charlotte banking were ready to take their banks national. The elimination of Jim Crow laws opened the South to greater economic activity and investment by big corporations, which in a previous era didn't want to do business or locate in the South for fear of getting mixed up in the racial politics. All of these things interact. It's hard to imagine Charlotte being the second-largest banking center in the United States under a system of rigid racial segregation.

In a recent paper, you note that the state's economy has become more metropolitan.

We have to think about how we devise strategies and set policies to assure that our metropolitan regions stay healthy and are governed well. We need to continue improving our public school systems. It's important to stem the trend toward resegregation. We clearly need more math and science teachers. We need to pay community-college teachers better. We need to pay attention to all of the pieces that go into bringing more and more people to an educational level beyond the 12th grade, because the jobs of the future in our metropolitan areas are going to require that.

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