ECONOMIC STRUCTURE AND SHIFTS
William Thompson’s developed a concept of growth, using the basic and non-basic model of Economic Base Theory which describes a series of stages in the development of a city. The five stages which he suggests the city goes through are export specialization, export complex, economic maturation, regional metropolis and technical-professional virtuosity (Hartshorn 1996). Similar pattern can be observed in the development of the city of Chicago, which was primarily a hub of manufacturing and packing industries exported the goods resulting in an export complex and became a hub of manufacturing industries in the Midwest of United States. The city of Chicago had many advantages to reach the stage of economic maturation. The geographical advantage of Lake Michigan along which the city is spanned helped the city to export its goods nationally as well as internationally. Additionally, the development of railroads from 1830s facilitated the transportation of goods across the nation during the Civil War. In 1950, Chicago was declared as Chicago Metropolitan Statistical Area (CMSA) which has now known as the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the third largest MSA by population in the United States. Currently, the city serves as a regional metropolis through its employment base and facilities not only to the areas within its states but also to its surrounding states like Indiana and Wisconsin. Thus, this indicate that the city of Chicago has a big sphere of influence in terms of its economic activities. Over the years, the change in the economic activities in Chicago from manufacturing industry to service based signals that the city has reached its final and fifth stage of development called technical-professional virtuosity according to the William Thompson’s concept. At present, the city of Chicago is the hub of many commercial banks and companies.
william thompson's five stages of DEVELOPMENt for a city which can be OBSERVED in the city of chicago
Pred’s concept of circular and cumulative causation recognizes Chicago at third position rank-wise in the United States in terms of value-added by manufacture in 1982 with value of US$36,363 million. Chicago enter the list at the seventh rank in the year 1860 with US$5 million value added by manufacturing and within 30 years in 1890, the value was increased by more than five time which made it third highest in rank (Hartshorn 1996). The manufacturing industries which came in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries developed in the manufacturing belt. But later on, new industries developed outside the traditional manufacturing belt, demonstrating the significant decentralization of the manufacturing industries which developed in the south and west coast of America. Therefore, the shift in the manufacturing industries was observed which simultaneously resulted shift in population.
The mix of manufacturing in the city of Chicago is very diverse, substantiating the Pred’s circulation and cumulative growth concept. The top five industries in the city for the year 1972, each contributed about 12-14 percent of total metropolitan value added totals, indicates that no one activity was dominant. This type of diverse economy has an advantage of withstanding economic downturns compared to those that rely on a single sector e.g. Detroit, Michigan with their automobile prominences (Hartshorn 1996).
The mix of manufacturing in the city of Chicago is very diverse, substantiating the Pred’s circulation and cumulative growth concept. The top five industries in the city for the year 1972, each contributed about 12-14 percent of total metropolitan value added totals, indicates that no one activity was dominant. This type of diverse economy has an advantage of withstanding economic downturns compared to those that rely on a single sector e.g. Detroit, Michigan with their automobile prominences (Hartshorn 1996).