America’s Corporate Exodus

Americans are a restless bunch - they are always on the move. The population of the country has gradually shifted west and south over decades as people look for new jobs and new opportunities. And now big businesses are shifting their corporate headquarters, mirroring this long migration trend. For the first time this year, Texas was deemed to be home to more headquarters of Fortune 500 companies - a list of top US corporate behemoths - than any other state, beating out California and New York. Companies are drawn by low taxes, light-touch regulation and government-funded incentives that make doing business in the conservative states of the Sun Belt seem as attractive as the weather.
At the same time, a number of governors and mayors in Democratic Party-dominated coastal states have been elected on pledges to increase taxes on the rich, in order to fund social services for those less well-off. These competing economic visions are squaring off in a country that's becoming increasingly politically polarised - and in terms of money and population, it seems that the red states - named after the color of the Republican Party - are beating out "blue" Democratic enclaves.
That's not quite the whole picture though. Increasingly draconian policies around immigration and abortion are driving some people the other direction - from extremely conservative red states to more socially liberal blue ones. And some of the people who are moving south are taking their blue-state outlooks with them, turning once-solidly Republican areas into "purple" battlegrounds.
The eventual outcomes are unclear - but as Americans continue to hit the road, the effects of the great corporate migration will impact American politics for decades to come.

Presenter: Mike Wendling
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
Audio engineer: Neil Churchill
Production co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman