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Trends in U.S. Spatial Inequality: Concentrating Affluence and a Democratization of Poverty

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Listed:
  • Cecile Gaubert
  • Patrick M. Kline
  • Damián Vergara
  • Danny Yagan

Abstract

We study trends in income inequality across U.S. states and counties 1960-2019 using a mix of administrative and survey data sources. Both states and counties have diverged in terms of per-capita pre-tax incomes since the late 1990s, with transfers serving to dampen this divergence. County incomes have been diverging since the late 1970s. These trends in mean income mask opposing patterns among top and bottom income quantiles. Top incomes have diverged markedly across states since the late 1970s. In contrast, bottom income quantiles and poverty rates have converged across areas in recent decades.

Suggested Citation

  • Cecile Gaubert & Patrick M. Kline & Damián Vergara & Danny Yagan, 2021. "Trends in U.S. Spatial Inequality: Concentrating Affluence and a Democratization of Poverty," NBER Working Papers 28385, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:28385
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    Cited by:

    1. Luisa Corrado & Daniela Fantozzi & Simona Giglioli, 2022. "Real-time ineuqalities and policies during the pandemic in the US," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 1396, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    2. Tom Kemeny & Sergio Petralia & Michael Storper, 2022. "Disruptive innovation and spatial inequality," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2211, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jul 2022.
    3. Christian Awuku-Budu & Dirk van Duym, 2022. "Developing Statistics on the Distribution of State Personal Income: Methodology and Preliminary Results," BEA Working Papers 0197, Bureau of Economic Analysis.
    4. Hu, Xiao & Liang, Che-Yuan, 2022. "Does income redistribution prevent residential segregation?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 519-542.
    5. Benjamin K. Couillard & Christopher L. Foote & Kavish Gandhi & Ellen Meara & Jonathan Skinner, 2021. "Rising Geographic Disparities in US Mortality," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 35(4), pages 123-146, Fall.
    6. Katheryn Russ & Jay C. Shambaugh & Sanjay R. Singh, 2023. "Currency Areas, Labor Markets, and Regional Cyclical Sensitivity," NBER Working Papers 31519, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Petralia, Sergio & Kemeny, Thomas & Storper, Michael, 2023. "The transformative effects of tacit technological knowledge," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 120154, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Bauluz, Luis & Bukowski, Pawel & Fransham, Mark & Lee, Annie Seong & López Forero, Margarita & Novokmet, Filip & Breau, Sébastien & Lee, Neil & Malgouyres, Clément & Schularick, Moritz & Verdugo, Greg, 2023. "Spatial wage inequality in North America and Western Europe: changes between and within local labour markets 1975-2019," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121290, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Agrawal David R. & Foremny Dirk, 2022. "Redistribution In A Globalized World," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 242(5-6), pages 551-567, December.
    10. Andrew W. Nutting, 2023. "Geographic earnings inequality by race, 1960–2016," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(2), pages 290-339, March.
    11. Kemeny, Tom & Storper, Michael, 2022. "The changing shape of spatial inequality in the United States," SocArXiv wnd8t, Center for Open Science.
    12. Berbée, Paul & Braun, Sebastian & Franke, Richard, 2022. "Reversing fortunes of German regions, 1926-2019: Boon and bane of early industrialization?," ZEW Discussion Papers 22-025, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    13. Connor, Dylan Shane & Kemeny, Tom & Storper, Michael, 2023. "Frontier workers, and the seedbeds of inequality and prosperity," SocArXiv d93sj, Center for Open Science.
    14. Ning Jia & Raven Molloy & Christopher Smith & Abigail Wozniak, 2023. "The Economics of Internal Migration: Advances and Policy Questions," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 61(1), pages 144-180, March.
    15. Cameron LAPOINT & SAKABE Shogo, 2021. "Place-Based Policies and the Geography of Corporate Investment," Discussion papers 21059, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    16. Anne Beck & Sebastian Doerr, 2023. "The financial origins of regional inequality," BIS Working Papers 1151, Bank for International Settlements.
    17. Kindsgrab, Paul M., 2022. "Do higher income taxes on top earners trickle down? A local labor markets approach," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E01 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General - - - Measurement and Data on National Income and Product Accounts and Wealth; Environmental Accounts
    • H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • R1 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics

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