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Title: Racial Concentration and Immigration as Determinants of Economic Growth and Income Convergence in the Southern United States

Citation Type: Dissertation/Thesis

Publication Year: 2009

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Abstract: This paper analyzes economic growth and income convergence using a subsample of counties from the Southern U.S. The phenomenon of regional income convergence is interesting and important through its revelation of whether living standards in poorer regions are approaching those in richer regions. Due to extensive economic interaction between counties in the U.S., spatial effects should be considered when examining regional income convergence. The results provide extremely strong evidence that spatial dependence is present in the data. Using four different model selection criteria, the spatial lag model is found to be appropriate for modeling the data. This paper adds to this relatively small section of the growth and convergence literature by investigating the impact of immigration and racial concentrations on the growth rate of per capita income in counties. Significant evidence of conditional beta-convergence among the counties included in the sample is found. Empirical evidence also supports the theory put forth by the specific-factors model, which suggests that immigration from low wage countries drives wage rates down in high wage countries. My findings reveal that counties with relatively large African-American populations experience relatively slow rates of income growth. I argue that labor market discrimination, past discrimination, pre-market discrimination, and white flight? could all be at the root of this result.

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Authors: Pitts, Joshua D.

Institution: Mississippi State University

Department: Applied Economics

Advisor: Joe Rezek

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Publisher Location: Mississippi State, MS

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Data Collections: IPUMS NHGIS

Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Poverty and Welfare

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