The Rise of the Sunbelt
Abstract
In the last 50 years, population and incomes have increased steadily throughout much of the Sunbelt. This paper assesses the relative contributions of rising productivity, rising demand for Southern amenities, and increases in housing supply to the growth of warm areas, using data on income, housing price, and population growth. Before 1980, economic productivity increased significantly in warmer areas and drove the population growth in those places. Since 1980, productivity growth has been more modest, but housing supply growth has been enormous. We infer that new construction in warm regions represents a growth in supply, rather than demand, from the fact that prices are generally falling relative to the rest of the country. The relatively slow pace of housing price growth in the Sunbelt, relative to the rest of the country and relative to income growth, also implies that there has been no increase in the willingness to pay for sun-related amenities. As such, it seems that the growth of the Sunbelt has little to do with the sun.Download Info
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Bibliographic Info
Article provided by Southern Economic Association in its journal Southern Economic Journal.
Volume (Year): 74 (2008)
Issue (Month): 3 (January)
Pages: 610-643
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Web page: http://www.southerneconomic.org/
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Related research
Keywords:Find related papers by JEL classification:
- R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics
- R1 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics
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Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- Winters, John V., 2009. "Wages and prices: Are workers fully compensated for cost of living differences?," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 632-643, September.
- Michaels, Guy & Rauch, Ferdinand & Redding, Stephen J, 2008.
"Urbanization and Structural Transformation,"
CEPR Discussion Papers
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- Guy Michaels & Ferdinand Rauch & Stephen J. Redding, 2012. "Urbanization and Structural Transformation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 127(2), pages 535-586.
- Guy Michaels & Ferdinand Rauch & Stephen Redding, 2008. "Urbanisation and Structural Transformation," CEP Discussion Papers dp0892, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
- Crafts, Nicholas & Klein, Alexander, 2013.
"Geography and Intra-National Home Bias: U.S. Domestic Trade in 1949 and 2007,"
CAGE Online Working Paper Series
111, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
- Nicholas Crafts & Alexander Klein, 2013. "Geography and Intra-National Home Bias: U.S. Domestic Trade in 1949 and 2007," Studies in Economics 1302, Department of Economics, University of Kent.
- Michael, Davidsson & Dan S., Rickman, 2012.
"U.S. Micropolitan Area Growth: A Spatial Equilibrium Growth Analysis,"
MPRA Paper
40394, University Library of Munich, Germany.
- Davidsson, Michael & Rickman, Dan S., 2011. "U.S. Micropolitan Area Growth: A Spatial Equilibrium Growth Analysis," The Review of Regional Studies, Southern Regional Science Association, vol. 41(2,3), pages 179-203, Fall, Win.
- Stephan Whitaker, 2012. "Measures beyond the college degree share to guide inter-regional comparisons and workforce development," Working Paper 1231, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
- Edward L. Glaeser & Matthew E. Kahn, 2008.
"The Greenness of Cities: Carbon Dioxide Emissions and Urban Development,"
NBER Working Papers
14238, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Glaeser, Edward L. & Kahn, Matthew E., 2010. "The greenness of cities: Carbon dioxide emissions and urban development," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 404-418, May.
- Miguel Lopes & Patricia Palma & Miguel e Cunha, 2011. "Tolerance is Not Enough: The Moderating Role of Optimism on Perceptions of Regional Economic Performance," Social Indicators Research, Springer, vol. 102(2), pages 333-350, June.
- Partridge, Mark D. & Rickman, Dan S. & Ali, Kamar & Olfert, M. Rose, 2010. "Recent spatial growth dynamics in wages and housing costs: Proximity to urban production externalities and consumer amenities," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 440-452, November.
- Hirsch, Barry T., 2008.
"Wage Gaps Large and Small,"
IZA Discussion Papers
3375, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
- Barry T. Hirsch, 2008. "Wage Gaps Large and Small," Southern Economic Journal, Southern Economic Association, vol. 74(4), pages 914-933, April.
- Edward L. Glaeser & Giacomo Ponzetto & Kristina Tobio, 2010. "The Varieties of Regional Change," Working Papers 472, Barcelona Graduate School of Economics.
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