Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-cfpbc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T21:56:38.663Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Regional Economic Growth and Income Distribution: County-Level Evidence from the U.S. South

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2015

Octavian Ngarambé ,
Stephan J. Goetz  and
David L. Debertin
Octavian Ngarambé
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Kentucky
Stephan J. Goetz
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Kentucky
David L. Debertin
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Kentucky
Get access

Abstract

Changes in income distribution are estimated for the U.S. South over the 1970 and 1980 decades using Gini coefficients for county-level, real family income. To explicitly investigate causal relationships between economic growth and inequality, a two-stage least squares model was estimated. In the 1970s, more rapid increases in inequality were associated with a reduced income growth rate, ceteris paribus, while in the 1980s, the opposite was true. Faster rates of income growth were associated with more rapid increases in inequality during the 1980s, but rates of income growth had no effect on changes in inequality during the 1970s.

Keywords

causalityeconomic growthinequalityU.S. South
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics , Volume 30 , Issue 2 , December 1998 , pp. 325 - 337
Copyright
Copyright © Southern Agricultural Economics Association 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anand, S., and Kanbur, S.M.R.. “Inequality and Development: A Critique.” J. Develop. Econ. 41(1993):19–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Asher, M.A., and DeFina, R.H.. “Has Deunionization Led to Higher Earnings Inequality?” Business Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia (November/December 1995):3–12.Google Scholar
Barro, R.J. “Economic Growth in a Cross-Section of Countries.” Quart. J. Econ. 106(1991):407-43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bishop, J.A., Formby, J.P., and Thistle, P.D.. “Explaining Interstate Variation in Income Inequality.” Rev. Econ. and Statis. 74(1992):553-57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burtless, G. “International Trade and the Rise in Earnings Inequality.” J. Econ. Literature 33(1995):800-16.Google Scholar
Butler, M.A., and Beale, C.L.. “Rural-Urban Continuum Codes for Metro and Nonmetro Counties, 1993.” Staff Rep. No. 9425, USDA/Economic Research Service, Agriculture and Rural Economy Div., Washington DC, September 1994.Google Scholar
Carlino, G.A. “Are Regional per Capita Earnings Diverging?” Business Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia (March/April 1992):3–12.Google Scholar
Carroll, R., and Wasylenko, M.. “Do State Business Climates Still Matter? Evidence of a Structural Change.” National Tax J. 47(1994):19–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Danziger, S., and Gottschalk, P.. Uneven Tides: Rising Inequality in America. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1993.Google Scholar
Duffy, P.A. “Is the New Deal Dead? Government, Economics, and the Rural South.” J. Agr. and Appl. Econ. 29(July 1997):1–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freeman, R.B., and Medoff, M.H.. What Do Unions Do? New York: Basic Books, 1984.Google Scholar
Goetz, S.J., and Debertin, D.L.. “Regional Analysis of Kuznets' Hypothesis Using County-Level Data.” Atlantic Econ. J. Best Papers 2(1992):206-10.Google Scholar
Goetz, S.J., and Hu, D.. “Economic Growth and Human Capital Accumulation: Simultaneity and Expanded Convergence Tests.” Econ. Letters 51(1996):355-62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kakwani, N.C., and Podder, N.. “Efficient Estimation of the Lorenz Curve and Associated Inequality Measures from Grouped Observations.” Econometrica 44(1976):137-48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, T.E., and Nord, S.. “The Effect of City Size on the Urban Income Distribution Through Time: 1950-70.” Appl. Econ. 16(1994):717-28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuznets, S. “Economic Growth and Income Inequality.” Amer. Econ. Rev. 45(1955):1–28.Google Scholar
Mofidi, A., and Stone, J.A.. “Do State and Local Taxes Affect Economic Growth?” Rev. Econ. and Statis. 72(1990):686-91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newman, R.J. “Industry Migration and Growth in the South.” Rev. Econ. and Statis. 65(1983):76–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peden, E.A. “Productivity in the United States and Its Relationship to Government Activity: An Analysis of 57 Years, 1929-1986.” Public Choice 69(1991):153-73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Persky, J., and Tarn, M.Y.. “On the Persistent Structure of Metropolitan Income Inequality, 1900-1980.” Rev. Regional Stud. 24(1994):211-27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Persson, T., and Tabellini, G.. “Is Inequality Harmful for Growth?” Amer. Econ. Rev. 84(1994):600-21.Google Scholar
Ram, R. “Economic Development and Income Inequality: An Overlooked Regression Constraint.” Econ. Develop, and Cultural Change 43(1995):425-34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ram, R. “Kuznets' Inverted-U Hypothesis: Evidence from a Highly Developed Country.” S. Econ. J. 57(1991):1112–23.Google Scholar
Romans, T., and Subrahmanyam, G.. “State and Local Taxes, Transfers, and Regional Economic Growth.” S. Econ. J. 46(1979):435-44.Google Scholar
Rubin, B.A. “Inequality in the Working Class: The Unanticipated Consequences of Union Organization and Strikes.” Indust. Labor Relations Rev. 41(1988):553-66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryscavage, P., and Henle, P.. “Earnings Inequality Accelerates in the 1980s.” Monthly Labor Rev. (December 1990):4–14.Google Scholar
Saith, A. “Development and Distribution: A Critique of the Cross-Country U-Hypothesis.” J. Develop. Econ. 13(1983):367-82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Solow, R.M. “A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth.” Quart. J. Econ. 70(1956):65–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tsakloglou, P. “Development and Inequality Revisited.” Appl. Econ. 20(1988):509-31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. Census of the Population. Report Series P-20. Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1970, 1980, and 1990.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. Statistical Abstract of the United States (CD-ROM). Washington DC, 1994.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. Statistical Abstract of the United States. Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1996.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis. Regional Economic Information System (CD-ROM). Washington DC, May 1993.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Directory of National Unions and Employee Organizations. Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1970, 1972, and 1974.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Directory of U.S. Labor Organizations. Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1978.Google Scholar