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Industry localisation and earnings inequality: Evidence from U.S. manufacturing

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  • Christopher H. Wheeler

Abstract

. While the productivity gains associated with the geographic concentration of industry (i.e., localisation) are by now well‐documented, little work has considered how those gains are distributed across individual workers. This article offers evidence on the connection between total employment and the relative wage earnings of high‐ and low‐skill workers (i.e., inequality) within two‐digit manufacturing industries across the states, and a collection of metropolitan areas in the U.S. between 1970 and 1990. Using measures of overall, between‐education‐group and residual inequality, I find that wage dispersion falls significantly as industry employment expands.

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  • Christopher H. Wheeler, 2007. "Industry localisation and earnings inequality: Evidence from U.S. manufacturing," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 86(1), pages 77-100, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:presci:v:86:y:2007:i:1:p:77-100
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1435-5957.2007.00107.x
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    2. Alessia Matano & Paolo Naticchioni, 2009. "Wage distribution and the spatial sorting of workers and firms," Working Papers - Dipartimento di Economia 8-DEISFOL, Dipartimento di Economia, Sapienza University of Rome, revised 2009.
    3. Thomas W. Volscho & Andrew S. Fullerton, 2005. "Metropolitan Earnings Inequality: Union and Government‐Sector Employment Effects," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 86(s1), pages 1324-1337, December.
    4. Neil Lee & Paul Sissons & Katy Jones, 2016. "The Geography of Wage Inequality in British Cities," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(10), pages 1714-1727, October.
    5. Kristian Behrens & Frédéric Robert‐Nicoud, 2009. "Krugman's Papers in Regional Science: The 100 dollar bill on the sidewalk is gone and the 2008 Nobel Prize well‐deserved," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 88(2), pages 467-489, June.
    6. Sun, Churen & Yu, Zhihao & Zhang, Tao, 2012. "Agglomeration and Trade with Heterogeneous Firms," MPRA Paper 49001, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 17 Aug 2013.
    7. Churen Sun & Zhihao Yu & Tao Zhang, 2012. "Agglomeration, Productivity, and Firms¡® Exports: Evidence from Chinese Firm-level Data," ERSA conference papers ersa12p882, European Regional Science Association.

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