This author should have read my thread from 14 years ago:
https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=17443.0It is rather a myth that "low taxes and low wages" as policy are what drove the growth of the South. For one, although unions were suppressed in the South, for the most part "low wages" was simply a reality. Second, the South's forward zoom occurred mostly during the New Deal and World War II, with massive government investment. That laid the foundation for postwar growth.
If left to the market, underdeveloped areas will remain relatively underdeveloped, and rural areas will suffer from devastation. The South increasingly lagged the North for well over a century despite relatively free market conditions in the 19th century. Government investment can help kickstart growth in new areas. Universities, military bases, and highways have helped the geographical spread of economic growth. Take Houston for instance- the Houston Ship Channel, Addicks and Barker Resevoirs, the University of Houston, Texas Medical Center, and Johnson Space Center are at the center of the region's non-oil economy, and all of them started with a government contribution or initiative.
Incidentally, Elizabeth Warren's Green New Deal would help the South. It would invest $400 billion in Green R&D and $1.5 trillion in government procurement, distributing money specifically to rural areas and land-grant universities, of which the South has about two dozen. This would be an opportunity for Houston to further diversify its energy economy away from fossil fuels.
