GROWTH AND CONVERGENCE IN US CITIES

This paper uses disaggregated data from a cross section of 282 U.S. metropolitan areas to study determinants of growth and convergence in per capita incomes for several periods, within the context of highly integrated labor and capital markers. We find that the neoclassical growth model performs well in explaining intermetropolitan factor flows and convergence in per capita incomes. Our major findings are that real per capita incomes converged across U.S. metropolitan areas at the rate of about 6% a year during the period 1960-77 but slowed in more recent years, and that there is little evidence that investments by state or local governments contributed to growth in per capita incomes over the periods studied. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.