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STATE PATTERNS IN FAMILY INCOME INEQUALITY
Author(s) -
PARTRIDGE JAMIE S.,
PARTRIDGE MARK D.,
RICKMAN DAN S.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
contemporary economic policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.454
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1465-7287
pISSN - 1074-3529
DOI - 10.1111/j.1465-7287.1998.tb00519.x
Subject(s) - economic inequality , inequality , economics , income inequality metrics , demographic economics , income distribution , state (computer science) , affect (linguistics) , social inequality , sociology , mathematical analysis , mathematics , communication , algorithm , computer science
It is well known that U.S. income inequality began to increase in the 1970s and increased sharply in the 1980s. Yet, what is less well known is that this upward trend was not uniform across states. Some states experienced almost no increase in family income inequality, while other states experienced dramatic increases. We use the variation in state trends to examine factors that may underlie shifts in U.S. income inequality. Among numerous factors, we include variables that allow us to examine the role that state and local economic development policy may play. Also, in examining state income inequality differences that could not be explained by economic factors, we explore the possibility that cultural and social norm factors affect state income inequality.