The Great Lakes Economy Looking North and South.

• Author: Gregg, Malcolm

Designed to update an earlier publication on the economy of the Great Lakes states, this book presents a collection of 15 papers, each of which examines a particular aspect of the region's economy. Some authors deal with very specific economic issues relating to the Great Lakes states, other tie issues together and identify linkages within the region.

All the papers present wide-ranging statistical data in a very readable form, but the book is much more than a collection of statistics. The authors analyze their subjects in real terms; they trace their history and development, identify successes and failures, measure performance and point to trends for the future.

If anything can be learned from the past as a basis for future action, then this document not only provides a wealth of information, but also assesses its worth relative to future action. Although written mainly from a U.S. perspective, a binational flavour has been added by the inclusion of data and commentary on the role of the Province of Ontario in the region.

The evolution of the region provides a fascinating read: the exploitation of natural resources, the development of agriculture, the establishment of manufacturing to complement these industries and, as the economy expanded, the development of a transportation network throughout the Great Lakes to serve it. This classic development pattern quickly made the region a major force in the North American economy. The legacy of this development, however, is not all positive. Depletion of natural resources, environmental concerns, specialization of manufacturing, declining population have in recent years presented major challenges to the area. State "smokestack chasing" competition did not achieve the prosperity it intended and, in the face of competition from other regions of the U.S. and the rest of the world, has now given way to more cooperation in the region.

From the perspective of a Canadian and, more specifically, an Ontarian living adjacent to the Great Lakes, the chapters of greatest interest are the ones addressing the relationships, both cooperative and competitive, between the Great Lakes states and Ontario. Ontario's economy is compared with that of the Great Lakes states and the conclusions drawn are that Ontario's economy, particularly the manufacturing sector, has, over the longer term, easily outperformed the state economies in the region. The caveat here is that the data presented only go to the mid-to-late...