Why Is This State the Way That It Is?

Mississippi, once the richest state in the USA, now has the lowest GDP per capita, highest poverty rate, and slowest growth. What caused this dramatic decline? Let's find out.

This video was made possible by our Patreon community! ❤️
See new videos early, participate in exclusive Q&As, and more!

▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
Check out our other channels ▶️
Epic Economics @EconomicsIsEpic
Context Matters @Context.Matters

And our Language Channels →

Also on Apple Podcasts or anywhere else you listen!

#EconomicsExplained #Mississippi #USAEconomy

▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀

ECONOMICS EXPLAINED IS MADE POSSIBLE BY OUR PATREON COMMUNITY 👊🙏

👑 ROYALTY CLASS 👑
Juan Benet

UPPER CLASS
Valkmit, Randall, Charles Youngs, Jeromy Johnson.

UPPER MIDDLE CLASS
Ernest Hua, Michael Wakim, Pineapples&bricks, Robert Abraham, Peter Wesselius, Michael Ling, Frank Soltero, David Poliakoff, Jay Eno, Sophie G, Brett Jubinville, Anthony Roberts, Jill Hoffman, Nathan Ngumi, JKH, Post Apocalyptic In Missouri, Laor Glukhovsky, Forodon, Paul Ashworth, Wendover Productions, Andrew Harrison, Shane Wailes, Igor Bazarny

MIDDLE CLASS
Per von Zweigbergk, Malleus Flavus, Backartoffel, Andy Giesen, Christopher Kastensmidt, Aryan, William Sherlock, Gerhardus, Derrick Yowell, BUBBA CONWAY, Chris, Brian, Vladimir Zotov, Seth, Dragan Alexandru, Jason, Jamie Costello, Leah Klearman, Klaus Clemens, Ps0Fa, Abel, Randall Sylvia, Eric Slimko, Empyre18, Brian Jackson, Istvan P, Kieran VR, Leonid Sorokoumov, Thomas Davenport, Nicholas Luchetta, Kim Brand, Ted Marcy, John Issitt, Joe Ryan, Patrick Staight, Wees Kendall, Shane Guthrie, Karan Mehta, roGER, Randy Cleary, Arjan, Liubov Zvereva, Michael D. Hall, Long Phan, Craig Mews, Kent Klatchuk, Roman~1, Chris Hawkins, Wesley Fite, David McIlveen, Anthony, Arend Peter Castelein, Daniel Alberto Vázquez Rodríguez, Kamil Sicinski, Dodd Willingham, Leo Vassershteyn, How long can a profile name be... this long... Wow, this is longer than I would have expected. Good lord, the letters! Secunda!, Michael Kürbis, Hugh Harris, David W., Dar H, Will, Kheng Lai Tan, David Taylor, Scott Greenwood, Jane Walerud, Zachary Demko, Michael Wolff, Siegfried Eggl, PM, Jack Annear, michael, Franklin, Trevor, Marcel Roquette, Daniel Hall, Connor Costello, John D Tyler, Petronio Coelho, Kevin MacIntyre, Travis Thompson, Matthew Eggleston, Kenneth Lum, Andrew Vinnichenko, Zachary Kasow, Johannes, Reuben Field, Nigel Pauli, Jacob, AB3, Matt McKee, Victor T., John C, Rimvydas, John Downie, Donald Wedington, Demo sthenes, Ed, Hayden van Reyswoud.

[SamBrownBaudot]

Growing up in Alabama, the state joke was that our state motto was, "Thank god for Mississippi." Because if not for Mississippi, we'd be last place at everything.

[paulmichael]

Born and raised in MS. No one in my family graduated college. It was a given that you go to work as soon as you are legal. They would say You didn’t need a “fancy degree with all the book smarts”
Luckily, I earned an electrical engineering degree and escaped the poverty. I am now a successful software engineer married to a medical doctor. I succeeded in spite of everything.

[johnschaffler]

Its refreshing to see someone take an unbiased look at Mississippi and not just throw a petty insult at them.
Thank you for your professionalism.

[andrewward]

I read an article about the downfall of the bike maker Schwinn. One of the dumb moves that led to its demise was opening its main production factory in Mississippi to avoid having to use union labor. And while it’s labor costs were lower nobody considered that most of the parts they used to build bikes came from Asia and Mississippi is a long way from the Pacific Ocean. And as the video say’s Mississippi roads aren’t great and there aren’t a lot of highways. So Schwinn’s transportation costs went way up (more then the money they were saving in labor costs) and Schwinn closed the plant and declared bankruptcy a few years later.

[HotSTeh]

as someone who lives in a developing country, it's crazy to think that low income Americans are richer than average income in my country.

[GnomaPhobic]

"Americans are really in to a little competitive rivalry" Boy that's the truth. Every state has a bag full of insults about a nearby rival state. I'm from Alabama, and whenever we mention the ills and troubles of our state we say "Thank God we're not Mississippi."

[novadawg]

I went to university in Mississippi. There’s a very sad reality that the state spends a lot of money in their public universities to train graduates at Ole Miss, Miss State, or Southern Miss, only for those students to leave the state for higher paying jobs in Atlanta, Nashville, or Dallas. Mississippis is essentially subsidizing their neighbors as they continue to out develop them.

[davisgrier]

I was born and raised in Mississippi. After graduating from Mississippi state with a BS in computer engineering i lived in the state for a few years. There weren’t too many job opportunities for my degree and the ones that were available were boring and didn’t pay as much as jobs in Texas, Florida, or even TN. I moved to Nashville in 2014 and have been happy ever since.

[kevinbrown]

I live in MS, and my solution is to bail and head to a better state. My subdivision doesn't even have sidewalks. Nice trees, though.

[Thaumogenesis]

Mississippi was simply meant to be an entry for spelling bees.
It never was supposed to become a real state.

[ziqi]

The American internet collectively agrees that Mississippi is the worst state to visit, the worst to live in, and the worst to do business in. It’s just…depressing.

[danielponder]

Most people I know from Mississippi left, that’s very telling even the wealthier residents left for better opportunities, more money, more favorable politics

[dachicagoan]

That's why half the state moved to Illinois in the first half of the 20tb century

[DSAK]

"The Past is never dead, it's not even past" Mississippi writer William Faulkner

[HunkyMunky]

I live here (I would leave, but unfortunately genetic disabilities have ruined that for me), but when I could work, I worked pest control, it introduced me to some of the saddest living conditions you could imagine(that and traveling thru the Delta when I was younger, there is a reason it's famous for its Blues music), I mean rooms with holes to the outside covered in rodent and roach waste, people living in sheds and shotgun shacks. This state will never recover, it simply doesn't have anything to offer, and the politics are so corrupt here, nothing ever gets done (for examples: Jackson's long Trash issue and the regular boil water notices.) (Also the GDP is misleading, drive around here and you'll see that(We have a high proportion of old money in places like Brandon, that artificially inflate the GDP)) (I also treated Mansions.)

[LDrumsOhio]

An area that you lightly touched on was brain drain, but that also should be labor drain. From the 1910 to 1970s Mississippi lost hundreds of thousands people that migrated north as part of the great migration. Well documented statements, letters, speeches made in Mississippi, regarding how business owners at first did not care that their black labor was leaving, but then became concerned as many industries faced labor shortages, and had to raise wages.

Antagonism further sped up migration during the 20s and 30s. Its behavior as a state in the 50s and 60s further drove people out of the state further hurting industries. The book Red Summer: The Summer of 1919 and the Awakening of Black America by Cameron McWhirter details some of this, as well as articles written in the Chicago Defender, and The Crisis from that time.

Apparently the government is taking questionable, stances and passing laws that actually are further exasperating the brain drain because they’re encouraging younger populations to move to secure more rights and access .

[marioex]

I’m from Alabama and our motto has always been, “At least we’re not Mississippi”

[mrdarklight]

An interesting factoid I learned recently: If the UK were to join the US as a state, it would be in last place in GDP per capita. Behind Mississippi. So don't feel bad, Mississippians. You're still richer than the UK.

[wowadrow]

Yep, wages are a joke here. Jobs that require a bachelor's degree pay 27k a year.... farcical. Family is the only reason people stay in Mississippi.

[thevoidlookspretty]

When I was a kid, my family drove through Mississippi on the way to New Orleans.
I’d forgotten what we saw in Mississippi, so I asked my dad, who did all the driving. He replied, “There was nothing worth remembering.”