Book Description:
What if one were to use metropolitan statistical area (MSA) data instead of nationwide data to study income redistribution? Might this reveal that certain regions or MSAs within regions are 'hot beds' of income inequality? Can patterns of income inequality be discerned within MSAs, e.g., between central cities and suburbs? If so, what local characteristics influence income inequality? Janice F. Madden tackles these questions by studying MSA data that link the characteristics of metropolitan economies to significant changes in income inequality. This allows her to study changes in poverty rates, household income inequality, and wage inequality within 182 of the largest MSAs and to identify what she says are the three factors most likely to influence changes in income inequality in metropolitan areas. Those factors are demographics, which define how income is shared across the generations and how earnings and other income flows translate into economic well being; the labor market, which strongly influences U.S. household income through the supply of and demand for workers, and through wages and salaries; the geographic structure, which impacts residents' local tax liabilities, access to publicly provided goods and services, personal security and safety, and the ability to commute to work including the increased locational isolation based on income or race. The results presented strongly support a number of policy recommendations pertaining to antipoverty policies, and address issues such as targets within MSAs for job growth and creation, the types of jobs created, and antidiscrimination policies in housing and labor markets.
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