How America's Coastal Cities Left the Heartland Behind

Brian Feldman is a Researcher-Reporter with the Open Markets Program at New America. He previously worked for an education technology company in Cleveland, OH through Venture for America, an entrepreneurship fellowship centered on regional economies.  Many of America’s Midwestern cities are experiencing an economic decline with big employers moving to bigger cities or out of the country. While many believe it to be an issue of deindustrialization and the trends in the free market, it may not be that simple. Brian Feldman says that the problems are actually a result of decisions made by “presidents and lawmakers in both parties, influenced by a handful of economists and legal scholars, quietly altered federal competition policies, antitrust laws, and enforcement measures over a period of 30 years.” So why are many Midwestern cities seeing such heavy economic blows? How have laws affected the growth of the cities? And will they ever return to their former “glory days”?