We use US county level data (3,058 observations) from 1970 to 1998 to explore the relationship between economic growth and the extent of government employment at three levels: Federal, state and local. We find that increases in federal, state and local government employments are all negatively...

This note outlines: 1) Why sigma-convergence may not accompany beta-convergence; 2) Cites evidence of beta-convergence in the U.S.; 3) Demonstrates that sigma-convergence does not hold across the U.S. or within most U.S. states; and 4) Demonstrates the robustness of this finding to increases in...

The marketplace, along with its price system, is the single most important institution in a western-style free enterprise economy. The ability of prices to adjust to changes in supply and demand conditions enables the market to function efficiently and lies behind the magical invisible hand...