Rurality and Income Inequality in the United States, 1975–2015

Hertz, Tom; Silva, Andrew

doi:10.1111/ruso.12295

Cited by 21 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…In addition to these rural-urban differentials in population composition and social structure, rurality (and urbanicity) may be associated with income inequality on their own terms. Prior work has suggested that sub-national income inequality may vary systematically between rural and urban areas (e.g., Hertz & Silva 2019;McLaughlin 2002;Moller et al 2009, Nord 1980. For example, Van Heuvelen (2018) draws on the work on Simon Kuznets and other contemporary scholars to suggest that urban areas should be characterized by higher levels of inequality than rural places, since the former are most likely to be characterized by dynamic economies, highlyeducated workers, and other characteristics associated with the attainment of high pay that skews the income distribution.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…First, we fill a gap in evidence about changing rural‐urban differentials in income inequality during a period of growing macro‐level inequalities. Prior work has either not focused explicitly on rural‐urban comparisons, produced estimates for only some of the 1970–2016 time period we study here, or focused on alternative geographic scales (e.g., Hertz and Silva 2020; McLaughlin 2002; Peters 2013). Our study, therefore, represents the only known county‐level analysis to track absolute levels of income inequality across the rural‐urban continuum since 1970, when the declining income disparities of the mid‐twentieth century began to reverse.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Income Inequality across the Rural‐Urban Continuum in the United States, 1970–2016*

et al. 2020

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Since the 1970s, the U.S. has experienced dramatic increases in income inequality. Although this macro-level trend is well-established in research literature, less is known about subnational patterns of income inequality in the U.S., particularly as they vary between and within rural and urban localities. Using Census and ACS data, this study produces Gini estimates of within-county income inequality and examines these trends across a six-strata urban-rural typology from 1970 to 2016. This study finds the following. Income inequality has remained consistently higher in nonmetropolitan counties than metropolitan counties throughout the study period. However, levels of inequality have converged by 2016, a convergence that has been driven by increases in metropolitan counties. There are notable exceptions to the secular trend of increasing inequality. The central Plains region has experienced decreasing levels of inequality, and inequality in large, peripheral metropolitan counties lags noticeably behind other types of counties. Almost all lowinequality counties in 1970 have shifted to moderate-or high-inequality, such that almost no one lives in low-inequality places by 2016. This increase in exposure to inequality has been particularly dramatic among residents of large, central metropolitan counties. As the only county-level analysis to track income inequality across the rural-urban continuum from 1970 to 2016, this study lays the foundation for more sophisticated analyses that explain spatial variation in income inequality and that account for the demographic and economic diversity of the rural and urban United States.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Income Inequality across the Rural‐Urban Continuum in the United States, 1970–2016*

et al. 2020

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“…Less commonly examined, however, is the generating processes underlying these trends and how they differ by gender. This paper extends earlier research (Hertz and Silva 2019) on the role of auxiliary income sources in the development of household income inequality to focus solely on the growth of earnings inequality per se.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 70%

Gender, Price, and Quantity Effects in U.S. Earnings Inequality: Revisiting Counterfactual Density Estimates

Silva

2020

SSRN Journal

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I decompose changes in the U.S. household earnings distribution from 1975 to 2018 to examine the labor market processes underlying its evolution over time. I model the distribution of earnings as a function of price effects (wages) and quantity effects (work hours and household employment), each of which are specified separately for men and women, and then apply a semi-parametric density estimation technique to infer their contributions to distributional measures. Results indicate that changes to the male wage distribution explain much of the growth in earnings inequality, but that its contribution varied greatly over time, with peak contributions in the mid 1990s; changes in female work hours have actually mitigated inequality growth, particularly by raising earnings in the lower and mid portions of the distribution, with more consistent effects over time. These results demonstrate the relevance of work hours in addition to wage rates in explaining earnings inequality growth, and the importance of gender differences therein.

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“…This lack of research is surprising because the Black Belt is historically (in)famous for segregation and integration issues. The region continues to face racial isolation and economic hardship, reflecting patterns across the United States in which rural minorities are among the most economically disadvantaged members of American society (Hertz and Silva 2020;Slack 2014;Slack and Jensen 2002). The Black Belt is no exception.…”

Section: Private Schools and School Segregation In The South And The Black Beltmentioning

confidence: 99%

Segregation Now, Segregation Tomorrow, Segregation Forever? Racial and Economic Isolation and Dissimilarity in Rural Black Belt Schools in Alabama*

Mann

Rogers

2021

Rural Sociology

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School racial and economic segregation trends in the United States have increased since the high point of school integration in the 1980s. Current scholarship rarely examines segregation trends in rural areas, especially in the rural Black Belt region of the southern United States. The Black Belt was the location of the leading events of the Civil Rights Movement and where white residents exhibited overt and violent resistance to Brown v. Board of Education. This landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court case prohibited legally mandated racial segregation in schools. Our study examines patterns of racial and economic isolation and dissimilarity in the Alabama Black Belt to determine the contemporary nature of school and neighborhood segregation in the region. We use a Critical Race Spatial Analysis framework to conceptualize the study, and we show that segregation patterns have continued and, in some cases, worsened in the last three decades. The forces driving these patterns are different from in the past, stemming from student population changes rather than students' distribution within school districts. Based on these findings, we explain solutions that include implementing school enrollment policy changes alongside policies that incentivize population growth and economic development.

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Rurality and Income Inequality in the United States, 1975–2015

Cited by 21 publications

References 22 publications

Income Inequality across the Rural‐Urban Continuum in the United States, 1970–2016*

Income Inequality across the Rural‐Urban Continuum in the United States, 1970–2016*

Gender, Price, and Quantity Effects in U.S. Earnings Inequality: Revisiting Counterfactual Density Estimates

Segregation Now, Segregation Tomorrow, Segregation Forever? Racial and Economic Isolation and Dissimilarity in Rural Black Belt Schools in Alabama*

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