Income convergence in a rural, majority African American region

Buddhi Gyawali; Rory Fraser; James Bukenya; John Schelhas

Treesearch

Income convergence in a rural, majority African American region

Formally Refereed

Authors:

Buddhi Gyawali, Rory Fraser, James Bukenya, John Schelhas

Year:

2008

Type:

Scientific Journal

Station:

Southern Research Station

Source:

The Review of Regional Studies 38(1):45-65

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Abstract

This paper revisits the issue of income convergence by examining the question of whether poorer Census Block Groups have been catching up with wealthier Census Block Groups over the 1980-2000 period. The dataset consists of 161 Census Block Groups in Alabama’s west-central Black Belt region. Estimates of a spatial lag model provide support for the conditional convergence hypothesis and explain roughly 60 percent of the variation in income growth. Income growth was positively and significantly correlated with education and employment, and negatively and significantly correlated with majority African-American population.

Keywords

African-Americans, Alabama, Rural Income, Income Convergence

Citation

Gyawali, Buddhi; Fraser, Rory; Bukenya, James; Schelhas, John. 2008. Income convergence in a rural, majority African American region. The Review of Regional Studies 38(1):45-65.