IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v51y2014i8p1672-1685.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Regional Convergence of Income and Education: Investigation of Distribution Dynamics

Author

Listed:
  • Jørn Rattsø
  • Hildegunn Stokke

Abstract

Recent US studies find that regional education levels diverge and that this can explain the decline of income convergence. The paper challenges the suggested relationship between movements in the distributions of income and education based on Norwegian data. Kernel density functions and Markov chains are applied and a test is undertaken of co-movements in the distributions of education and income. Education levels converge and are equalised across the country, and this process coincides with income convergence. However, the test indicates that transitions in the income and education distributions are basically unrelated. The education level increases in large cities with limited income growth and the income growth is strong in regions with continued low education level.

Suggested Citation

  • Jørn Rattsø & Hildegunn Stokke, 2014. "Regional Convergence of Income and Education: Investigation of Distribution Dynamics," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(8), pages 1672-1685, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:51:y:2014:i:8:p:1672-1685
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098013498625
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042098013498625
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0042098013498625?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Berry, Christopher R. & Glaeser, Edward L., 2005. "Divergence of Human Capital Levels across Cities," Working Paper Series rwp05-057, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    2. George W. Hammond & Eric C. Thompson, 2010. "Divergence and Mobility in College sag Attainment Across U.S. Labor Market Areas: 1970—2000," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 33(4), pages 397-420, October.
    3. Jesse M. Shapiro, 2006. "Smart Cities: Quality of Life, Productivity, and the Growth Effects of Human Capital," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 88(2), pages 324-335, May.
    4. Nicola Gennaioli & Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2013. "Human Capital and Regional Development," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(1), pages 105-164.
    5. de la Fuente, Angel, 2002. "On the sources of convergence: A close look at the Spanish regions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 569-599, March.
    6. Kurt Geppert & Andreas Stephan, 2008. "Regional disparities in the European Union: Convergence and agglomeration," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 87(2), pages 193-217, June.
    7. Frank Bickenbach & Eckhardt Bode, 2003. "Evaluating the Markov Property in Studies of Economic Convergence," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 26(3), pages 363-392, July.
    8. Edward L. Glaeser & Matthew G. Resseger, 2010. "The Complementarity Between Cities And Skills," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 221-244, February.
    9. Rauch James E., 1993. "Productivity Gains from Geographic Concentration of Human Capital: Evidence from the Cities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 380-400, November.
    10. Nazrul Islam, 2003. "What have We Learnt from the Convergence Debate?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(3), pages 309-362, July.
    11. Kremer, Michael & Onatski, Alexei & Stock, James, 2001. "Searching for prosperity," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 275-303, December.
    12. Christopher R. Berry & Edward L. Glaeser, 2005. "The divergence of human capital levels across cities," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 84(3), pages 407-444, August.
    13. Südekum, Jens, 2008. "Convergence of the skill composition across German regions," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 148-159, March.
    14. Christopher R. Berry & Edward L. Glaeser, 2005. "The Divergence of Human Capital Levels Across Cities," NBER Working Papers 11617, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Stefano Magrini, 2009. "Why Should We Analyse Convergence Using the Distribution Dynamics Approach?," SCIENZE REGIONALI, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 8(1), pages 5-34.
    16. Shorrocks, A F, 1978. "The Measurement of Mobility," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(5), pages 1013-1024, September.
    17. Quah, Danny, 1993. "Empirical cross-section dynamics in economic growth," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(2-3), pages 426-434, April.
    18. Sakamoto, Hiroshi & Islam, Nazrul, 2008. "Convergence across Chinese provinces: An analysis using Markov transition matrix," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 66-79, March.
    19. Philip Oreopoulos & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2011. "Priceless: The Nonpecuniary Benefits of Schooling," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 25(1), pages 159-184, Winter.
    20. Quah, D., 1990. "Galton'S Fallacy And The Tests Of The Convergence Hypothesis," Working papers 552, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Economics.
    21. Quah, Danny, 2001. "Searching for prosperity a comment," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 305-319, December.
    22. Jurgen Essletzbichler & Kazuo Kadokawa, 2010. "The Evolution of Regional Labour Productivities in Japanese Manufacturing, 1968-2004," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(9), pages 1189-1205.
    23. Christopher R. Berry & Edward L. Glaeser, 2005. "The Divergence of Human Capital Levels across Cities," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 2091, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
    24. John V. Winters, 2011. "Why Are Smart Cities Growing? Who Moves And Who Stays," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(2), pages 253-270, May.
    25. Wolff, Edward N., 2000. "Human capital investment and economic growth: exploring the cross-country evidence," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 433-472, December.
    26. repec:bla:scandj:v:95:y:1993:i:4:p:427-43 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Broxterman, Daniel A. & Yezer, Anthony M., 2020. "Measuring human capital divergence in a growing economy," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    2. Daniel Broxterman & Anthony Yezer, 2021. "Human capital divergence and the size distribution of cities: Is Gibrat’s law obsolete?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(12), pages 2549-2568, September.
    3. Tiago Neves Sequeira & Marcelo Santos & Alexandra Ferreira-Lopes, 2017. "Income Inequality, TFP, and Human Capital," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 93(300), pages 89-111, March.
    4. Jabłoński Łukasz, 2019. "Inequality in Economics: The Concept, Perception, Types, and Driving Forces," Journal of Management and Business Administration. Central Europe, Sciendo, vol. 27(1), pages 17-43, March.
    5. Sascha Sardadvar & Christian Reiner, 2017. "Does the presence of high-skilled employees increase total and high-skilled employment in the long run? Evidence from Austria," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 44(1), pages 59-89, February.
    6. Marcelo Santos & Tiago Neves Sequeira & Alexandra Ferreira-Lopes, 2017. "Income Inequality and Technological Adoption," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(4), pages 979-1000, October.
    7. Piotr Tadeusz Wójcik, 2022. "The parallel convergence of income and educational achievements: joint distribution dynamics," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 68(3), pages 527-548, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jørn Rattsø & Hildegunn E. Stokke, 2011. "Accumulation of education and regional income growth: Limited human capital effects in Norway," Working Paper Series 11211, Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
    2. George W. Hammond & Eric C. Thompson, 2010. "Divergence and Mobility in College sag Attainment Across U.S. Labor Market Areas: 1970—2000," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 33(4), pages 397-420, October.
    3. Kurt Geppert & Andreas Stephan, 2008. "Regional disparities in the European Union: Convergence and agglomeration," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 87(2), pages 193-217, June.
    4. Paula Prenzel & Simona Iammarino, 2018. "Ageing labour: How does demographic change affect regional human capital?," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1832, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Aug 2018.
    5. Winters, John V., 2014. "The Production and Stock of College Graduates for U.S. States," IZA Discussion Papers 8730, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Sascha Sardadvar & Christian Reiner, 2017. "Does the presence of high-skilled employees increase total and high-skilled employment in the long run? Evidence from Austria," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 44(1), pages 59-89, February.
    7. Winters, John V., 2011. "Human capital, higher education institutions, and quality of life," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(5), pages 446-454, September.
    8. John V. Winters, 2013. "Human capital externalities and employment differences across metropolitan areas of the USA," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 13(5), pages 799-822, September.
    9. Winters, John V., 2014. "STEM graduates, human capital externalities, and wages in the U.S," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 190-198.
    10. Fu, Yuming & Gabriel, Stuart A., 2012. "Labor migration, human capital agglomeration and regional development in China," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 473-484.
    11. Südekum Jens, 2010. "Human Capital Externalities and Growth of High- and Low-Skilled Jobs," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 230(1), pages 92-114, February.
    12. Jesús Peiró-Palomino & William Orlando Prieto-Bustos & Emili Tortosa-Ausina, 2020. "Weighted convergence in Colombian departments: The role of geography and demography," Working Papers 2020/01, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
    13. Stefano Magrini & Alessandro Spiganti, 2024. "A tale of two cities: Communication, innovation, and divergence," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 62(1), pages 390-413, January.
    14. John V. Winters, 2011. "Human Capital and Population Growth in Nonmetropolitan U.S. Counties," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 25(4), pages 353-365, November.
    15. Hildegunn Stokke & Jörn Rattsö, 2011. "Income convergence, migration and geography: Distribution analysis of regions in Norway," ERSA conference papers ersa10p174, European Regional Science Association.
    16. Edward L. Glaeser & Giacomo A. M. Ponzetto & Kristina Tobio, 2014. "Cities, Skills and Regional Change," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(1), pages 7-43, January.
    17. John Winters, 2012. "Differences in employment outcomes for college town stayers and leavers," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 1(1), pages 1-17, December.
    18. Winters, John V, 2010. "Human Capital and Population Growth in Non-Metropolitan U.S. Counties: The Importance of College Student Migration," MPRA Paper 25592, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Piotr Tadeusz Wójcik, 2022. "The parallel convergence of income and educational achievements: joint distribution dynamics," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 68(3), pages 527-548, June.
    20. Richard Florida & Charlotta Mellander & Kevin Stolarick, 2016. "Human capital in cities and suburbs," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 57(1), pages 91-123, July.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:51:y:2014:i:8:p:1672-1685. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.