Commodities Are Hot

Demographer Joel Kotkin, writing for newgeography, looks for places where things are doing well, and finds them. The economy went bad in 2007, so Kotkin looks for places that have done well since then.

The states that have added the most jobs since 2007 — Texas, North Dakota, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Alaska – are located in a vast energy and commodities corridor extending from the western Gulf to the northern tip of the Continent. (snip) Since the onset of the new century, much of the sustained growth in the world has taken place not in the financial or information capitals, but in regions that produce basic commodities like energy and food.

Kotkin adds that it helps when states develop a business-friendly set of policies.