http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/opinion/entries/2010/02/26/guest_column_manufacturing_cou_1.html?cxtype=feedbotOhio is in a paradoxical moment: The present is painful, but the future could be promising. And, in another paradox, its manufacturing heritage is part of the reason why. The pre-recession economy was driven by consumption, energy profligacy and financial bubbles. The next American economy must be very different: export-oriented, low carbon and innovation-fueled.
According to the World Bank, exports make up only 11 percent of U.S. GDP, compared to 40 percent in Europe, 40 percent in China, and 36 percent in Canada. Only 4 percent of U.S. companies export. Ohio can lead the U.S. back into the export game, because the state still manufactures what the rest of the world wants, including medical instruments, electrical machinery and aircraft parts.
Brazil and China, two rapidly growing economies, are Ohio’s third- and fourth-largest trading partners. Dayton and six other large Ohio metros exported about $3.6 billion worth of goods and services to Brazil, India and China in 2007 alone.
The
“Restoring Prosperity” report that the Brookings Institution and the Greater Ohio Policy Center just released recommends 39 policies — from rebuilding physical assets to collaborating at the regional level, that can help Ohio be strong in an export-oriented, low-carbon and innovation-fueled world.
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