Beauregard, R. (2003). "Aberrant Cities: Urban Population Loss in the United States, 1820-1930." Urban Geography. 24 (8), 672-690.
Abstract:
"Our understanding of population loss from U.S. cities draws primarily from the fate of industrial centers in the decades following World War II. Quite numerous, those cities cast off residents at unprecedented and sustained rates. Prior to this time, few large cities had ended a decade smaller in population size than they began. In order to broaden and deepen our knowledge of why some cities and not others lose population, this paper analyzes cities that shed population in the 19th century. Using Census data and capsule stories developed from city biographies, the paper explores both contextuating and precipitating factors. These findings subsequently become the basis for reflecting anew on urban decline since the mid-20th century."
Hansen, Susan B., Carolyn Ban, and Leonard Huggins. "Explaining the "Brain Drain" from Older Industrial Cities: The Pittsburgh Region." Economic Development Quarterly 17, no. 2 (2003): 15.
"In an effort to understand why so many college graduates are leaving western Pennsylvania, recent college graduates from three Pittsburgh-area universities were surveyed about their career and location decisions. The results indicated some increase in those staying between 1994 and 1999. A logistic regression analysis showed that an improving economy, low housing costs, an ample opportunities for continuing education were the major reasons. However, the region is still losing disproportionate numbers of minorities and graduates in high-tech fields and is attracting few immigrants. The major competition was from neighboring states rather than the Sun Belt. Low salaries and lack of advancement opportunities, especially for women, minorities, and two career couples, were the primary reasons. The results suggest several policy recommendations to help retain recent area graduates and to attract more highly skilled workers to the region." [from abstract]
Beauregard, Robert A. 2003. Voices of decline: The Postwar fate of U.S. cities. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge.
"Freely crossing disciplinary boundaries, this book uses the words of those who witnessed the cities' distress to portray the postwar discourse on urban decline in the United States. Up-dated and substantially re-written in stronger historical terms, this new edition explores how public debates about the fate of cities drew from and contributed to the choices made by households, investors, and governments as they created and negotiated America's changing urban landscape."