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Income Migration and Income Convergence across U . S . States, 1995–2010
Author(s) -
Shumway J. Matthew,
Otterstrom Samuel M.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
growth and change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.657
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1468-2257
pISSN - 0017-4815
DOI - 10.1111/grow.12104
Subject(s) - economics , convergence (economics) , economic inequality , income distribution , demographic economics , net national income , income in kind , internal migration , gross income , labour economics , inequality , developing country , economic growth , public economics , state income tax , mathematical analysis , mathematics , tax reform
In this paper we examine how internal migration redistributes earned income across U . S . states between 1995 and 2010. We examine interregional income flows by first describing the movement of earned income between U . S . states. Second, we examine the effect of income migration on spatial patterns of income inequality. The question we ask is, “does migration increase or decrease convergence income across U . S . States?” A primary contribution of this paper is that instead of using only 1 year of income migration data to explore these issues, we use yearly data from the first year the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data started including income (1995/1996) up to the most current data available (2009/2010). Results indicate that income convergence/divergence across states varies by whether or not there is general economic expansion or contraction. Nevertheless, some high‐amenity states continually attract high‐income households.