Time-series Tests of Stochastic Earnings Convergence across US Nonmetropolitan Counties, 1969-2004

This paper assesses whether per-capita income, measured as average wages and salaries per job, in U.S. nonmetropolitan counties is converging to the national or U.S. metropolitan average using data over the 1969 to 2004 period. Additional analysis explores whether per-capita income is converging to the national and metropolitan averages using several sub-sets of nonmetropolitan counties based on USDA typologies. The paper uses single equation and panel unit-root tests in the analysis and concludes that nonmetropolitan counties are converging to the national and metropolitan average in general with a few exceptions.