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TROPICS AND INCOME: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF THE U.S. STATES
Author(s) -
Ram Rati
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
review of income and wealth
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.024
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1475-4991
pISSN - 0034-6586
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-4991.1999.tb00346.x
Subject(s) - economics , per capita income , income elasticity of demand , personal income , demographic economics , total personal income , equator , econometrics , demography , geography , gross income , economic growth , public economics , geodesy , tax reform , sociology , latitude , state income tax
A simple regression of personal income per capita for the U.S. states is estimated from cross‐section data for the years 1929, 1950, 1970 and 1990 with each state's distance from the equator as the regressor. While proximity to the equator is noted to have a sizable adverse effect on income, elasticity of personal income per capita with respect to “tropicality” shows a steady and somewhat dramatic decline during this 60‐year period. The estimates indicate that the disadvantage of tropicality is not immutable, and need not imply a developmental determinism.