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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
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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

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