The Need To Restructure
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Photo: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Bildarchiv
As has been noted before, certain themes in economic history have
tended to repeat themselves. Economic restructuring is one of
them. And it is almost always painful. Many Americans had seen
variations on it before: the consolidation of the agricultural
sector that went on throughout the 20th century, pushing many
farmers off their land; and the massive restructuring of the
manufacturing sector during the 1970s and 1980s, which shrank the
number of factory jobs drastically, all but depopulating some old
U.S. industrial communities. It is an example of the "creative
destruction" cited by the economist Joseph A. Schumpeter as the
means by which capitalism reinvigorates itself; in the end, the
restructured sector may be smaller or different, but it is
stronger and more fit to endure the rigors of global competition.
Meantime, those lost jobs are replaced by new ones in industries
with more potential. In the late 20th century, those jobs were
increasingly in such high-technology industries as computers and
biotechnology, and in fast-expanding service industries such as
health care and computer software.
