Economic growth and convergence of regions and states: 1983 to 2005

This article examines per capita income inequalities as well as inequalities of growth rates of various macroeconomic variables on a regional and state basis. While states and regions follow trends of the national economy, the experience for individual regions and states could be different. Therefore, the interest here is to deduce whether per capital income and growth in the economy in recent years and the near future are more or less equal. For this purpose, annual per capital income data and annual growth rate data by state and region for earnings, employment, total personal income, population, and per capita personal income for the periods 1983 to 1993, and projections for the period 1993 to 2005 are explored to investigate the question of convergence in regional and state economic trends.