Changing income inequality in nonmetropolitan counties, 1980 to 1990
McLaughlin, D.K.
Rural Sociology 67(4): 512-533
2002
ISSN/ISBN: 0036-0112 DOI: 10.1111/j.1549-0831.2002.tb00117.xDocument Number: 357484
Income inequality has been increasing across the USA, but little is known about changing income inequality in nonmetropolitan counties. Data from the 1980 and 1990 Summary Tape Files of the US Census of Population and Housing are used to estimate ordinary least squares models of change in income inequality. Household income inequality increased in a smaller share of nonmetropolitan than metropolitan counties from 1980-90, and increases in income inequality were influenced more strongly by economic restructuring in nonmetropolitan than in metropolitan counties. Other factors, such as change in household structure, demographic composition, and labour supply and job quality, were generally similar in affecting income inequality in nonmetropolitan and metropolitan counties. The greater importance of economic restructuring in nonmetropolitan counties indicates the lesser diversity and smaller size of local economies, and their greater vulnerability to forces of economic restructuring.