Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics

Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation,
Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies

No 304: The Geography of Inequality: Difference and Determinants of Wage and Income Inequality across US Metros

Richard Florida () and Charlotta Mellander ()
Additional contact information
Richard Florida: University of Toronto
Charlotta Mellander: Jönköping International Business School

Abstract: This paper examines the geographic variation in inequality, and it distinguishes between wage and income inequality. Wage inequality is associated with skills, human capital, technology and metro size - in line with the literature on skill-biased technical change. Income inequality is instead more closely associated with race, poverty, lower levels of unionization and lower taxes. This suggests that income inequality is a product not only of skill-biased technical change, but also of the enduring legacy of race and poverty at the bottom of the socio-economic order, as well as the unraveling of the post-war social compact between capital and labor.

Keywords: inequality; income; wage; high-tech; skills

JEL-codes: J24; O10; O33; R00

34 pages, April 12, 2013

Full text files

cesiswp304.pdf PDF-file 

Download statistics

Questions (including download problems) about the papers in this series should be directed to Vardan Hovsepyan ()
Report other problems with accessing this service to Sune Karlsson ().

This page generated on 2024-02-21 12:08:39.