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LSE: The Ballpark | How to help left behind regions and workers with Professor Gordon Hanson

The last 40 years have seen a sharp decline in America’s manufacturing industries with growing joblessness in previously prosperous industrial regions. How and why did this happen, and what can be done to help workers in these “left-behind places”?
The last 40 years have seen a sharp decline in America’s manufacturing industries with growing joblessness in previously prosperous industrial regions. How and why did this happen, and what can be done to help workers in these “left-behind places”?
Monday 5 January 2026 | 26 minutes 30 seconds
Listen on SoundCloudDownload File | 36.41MB

The last 40 years have seen a sharp decline in America’s manufacturing industries with growing joblessness in many previously prosperous industrial regions of the US.

But how and why did these job losses happen, and how did the US move from an economy based on manufacturing to one that’s now based on services? And what can be done to help workers affected by technological disruption in what are called "left-behind places"?

To discuss the origins of job loss, left behind places, and the place-based policies that can help them, in November 2025, the Phelan US Centre spoke to Professor Gordon Hanson, the Peter Wertheim Professor in Urban Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. Professor Hanson is best known for his research on the labor market consequences of globalization, including pioneering work on the China trade shock.

This episode was produced by Chris Gilson and Avan Fata.

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