What role did regional policy play in addressing the US auto industry crisis?

摘要

One of the first challenges of the newly inaugurated Obama Administration in 2009 was the parlous state of the Detroit 3 carmakers (Chrysler Group, Ford Motor Company, and General Motors Company). Without government intervention, Chrysler and GM faced the strong possibility of having to close their operations and to liquidate their assets. The Obama Administration's publicly stated justification for rescuing Chrysler and GM was twofold: (1) short-term stabilisation of the national economy, (2) long-term strengthening of US manufacturing. Regional policy was not publicly stated as an important goal, but this paper concludes that one result of the rescue has been a tacit implementation of a regional industrial policy in the USA, though not an explicitly adopted strategy.