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Why Did Income Growth Vary Across States During the Great Depression?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2006

THOMAS A. GARRETT  and
DAVID C. WHEELOCK
THOMAS A. GARRETT
Affiliation:
Research officer and Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63166-0442. E-mail: Garrett@stls.frb.org.
DAVID C. WHEELOCK
Affiliation:
Assistant Vice President and Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63166-0442. E-mail: Wheelock@stls.frb.org.
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Abstract

This note investigates the sources of variation in the growth of per capita personal incomes across U.S. states during the Great Depression. States entering the economic contraction with relatively low per capita incomes tended to suffer larger percentage declines in per capita income than did high income states. By contrast, low-income states tended to experience larger percentage gains during the recovery. Hence, state per capita incomes diverged during the contraction phase and converged during the recovery phase.

Type
NOTES AND DISCUSSION
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 66 , Issue 2 , June 2006 , pp. 456 - 466
Copyright
© 2006 The Economic History Association

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