This paper examines the spatial correlation structure of county-level growth across the contiguous United States. Estimated spatial correlograms using data on four different measures of aggregate economic activity-population, employment, income, and earnings-over the period 1984-1994 indicate...

Over the past 30 years, the gap between what workers at the high end of the scale earn compared with wages at the low end of the scale has widened dramatically. The divide is especially pronounced today in cities.

The rise in U.S. wage inequality over the past two decades is commonly associated with an increase in the use of "skill-biased" technologies (e.g., computer equipment) in the workplace, yet relatively few studies have attempted to measure the direct link between the two. This paper explores the...

This paper examines the determinants of employment growth in metro areas. To obtain growth rates, we use a Markov-switching model that separates a city's growth path into two distinct phases (high and low), each with its own growth rate. The simple average growth rate over some period is,...

Existing research shows an inverse relationship between urban density and the degree of income inequality within metropolitan areas; this information suggests that as urban areas spread out, they become increasingly segregated by income. This paper examines this hypothesis using data covering...

While a sizable body of research has studied the relationship between aggregate productivity and geographic density, little work has considered how density influences the distribution of productivity across workers. This paper offers some descriptive evidence on the relationship between three...