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Convergence of State Per Capita Incomes: An Examination of Its Sources
Author(s) -
MALLICK RAJIV
Publication year - 1993
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/j.1468-2257.1993.tb00129.x
Subject(s) - economics , convergence (economics) , per capita , per capita income , wage , human capital , labour economics , demographic economics , wage growth , econometrics , macroeconomics , population , economic growth , demography , sociology
This paper examines the sources of regional convergence in per capita incomes over the last four decades. Growth in per capita income is decomposed into two major components: (1) growth in employment rates and (2) growth in wage rates per worker. Using annual data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the paper finds that the observed convergence in per capita incomes of sates was largely due to convergence in employment rates; wage rates either did not converge or did so weakly. Employing an instrumental variables technique, the paper finds that rapid growth in the work force with relatively low levels of human capital in initially poor states was a depressing influence on wage rate growth in these states, and was a major reason for the relatively slow convergence in per capita incomes.