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Regions Resources and Economic Growth (Perloff, Dunn, Lampard, Muth, 1960)

Harvey S. Perloff, Edgar S. Dunn, Jr., Eric E. Lampard, Richard F. Muth

JLJ - A completely useless book - if in fact it did not represent Dunn's first attempt at the shift-share analytical technique he would use in later works.

Note how something you can count can be transformed into something you can do - an instant strategy if you will, which can be merely "executed". What appears to be a decision is really the execution of a script where we have "pre-decided" how we will act upon completion of the counting exercise.

Consider a tool which estimates how much it will cost to replace a roof. The "decision" itself of the total cost is really a counting exercise and the application of a pre-decided formula to the numbers - the cost estimate is really based on a clever rule made by the programmer when the tool was constructed. Perhaps there really is no true "decision" made by the machine on the cost, merely the appearance of a decision.  A thermostat works because we have pre-decided what will happen when the limit switches are tripped by what is essentially a mechanism. These ideas are useful for game theory.

Dunn turns raw and regional numbers into economic insight based on a clever counting and subsequent charting technique.

vii Edgar S. Dunn, Jr., prepared part IV, which analyzes the changes in the locational structure of American economic activity in the crucial years during and since World War II.

viii Dunn and Lampard each took a year's leave from the University of Florida and Smith College respectively to work on the study full time at Resources for the Future; and both spent a further year completing their phases of the work after returning to their own institutions.

p.33 The net shifts by which we measure state and regional growth or decline are the relative gains and losses among the states with regard to a given variable... in comparison to the national figures.

Part IV: The Regional Distribution of Economic Activities in the United States, 1939-1954, p.295-486

p.295 We are primarily concerned at this point with the regional distribution of the volume of economic activity... The best over-all view of this distribution is provided by employment data, for they enable us to study in detail what has been taking place in specific sectors of economic activity.

p.296 Employment changes are particularly useful as an indication of changes in the volume of economic activities because of the close tie between employment and population.

p.297 Throughout part IV we shall place considerable emphasis upon shifts in employment patterns as evidence of the changes taking place in the regional structure of the American economy.