Changes in the distribution of farm wealth in the United States

This paper examines the changes in farm sector wealth from 1949 through 2002. The study uses Theil’s entropy-based measure of inequality of farm wealth for 10 regions of the United States. The entropy measure is then used to decompose U.S. inequality into within-region and between-region differences. Results show that for the period 1949 to 1993, relative to the number of farms per state, farm wealth in the United States became more equally distributed. However, beginning in 1994, findings suggest inequality in wealth may be increasing.