Changing Patterns of Income Inequality in U.S. Counties, 1970–2000

Abstract

The upswing in economic inequality that has affected a number of advanced industrial societies in the late 20th century has been particularly conspicuous in the United States. The authors explore its causes using data on the distribution of family income in 3,098 U. S. counties in 1970, 1980, 1990, and 2000. The authors build a model of within-county income inequality that assumes that distribution processes involving labor market and sociodemographic variables operate primarily at the county level and those involving the political and institutional context operate primarily at the state level. Multilevel methods are used to distinguish county cross-sectional, state cross-sectional, and longitudinal effects on inequality. The authors find that, when features of the state-level institutional and political context are associated with inequality, these effects are larger longitudinally than cross-sectionally. A range of other factors, including economic development, labor force changes, shifts in the racial/ethnic and gender composition of the labor force, educational expansion, and urbanization are found to have comparatively large effects, both longitudinally and cross-sectionally. INEQUALITY TRENDS IN THE LATE 20TH CENTURYOne of the most intriguing socioeconomic trends of the last decades of the 20th century is the upswing in income inequality that was first noted 1 The authors would like to acknowledge the helpful comments and suggestions of Phil Gibbs, David Lowery, the late Rachel Rosenfeld, John Stephens, and the AJS reviewers. Direct all correspondence to Stephanie Moller,

Intermediate Levels of Network Fluidity Amplify Economic Growth and Mitigate Economic Inequality in Experimental Social Networks

“…Prior work has used large-scale observational data to explore a number of social explanations for geographic variation in economic inequality-including relative rates of economic development, labor force changes, educational changes, and urbanization (Moller, Alderson and Nielsen 2009). The role of social networks has also been explored, using phone data for the entire UK, along with economic measures, to make ecological inferences that one measure of network diversity is positively associated with greater economic development (Eagle, Macy and Claxton 2010).…”

Rising inequality in Canada: A regional perspective

“…this is the so-called Great Uturn). In other words, above a certain development threshold, one could expect inequality to start rising again (see also Alderson & Neilson, 2002;Moller, Alderson, & Nielsen, 2009).…”

“…Likewise, the steady decline in union membership rates has considerably eroded the bargaining power of low-skilled workers and, in parallel to the deindustrialization hypothesis, is considered to be another potential cause of increasing inequality (Card, Lemieux, & Riddell, 2004;Lemieux, 2008). Union activities generate wage compression and help maintain relatively high wages amongst members (Moller et al, 2009). Unionization is thus expected to be negatively related to earnings inequality.…”

Labor Unions, Political Representation, and Economic Inequality

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