Title: Why Did Income Growth Vary Across States During the Great Depression?
Abstract: This note investigates the sources of variation in the growth of per capita personal incomes across U.S. states during the Great Depression. States entering the economic contraction with relatively low per capita incomes tended to suffer larger percentage declines in per capita income than did high income states. By contrast, low-income states tended to experience larger percentage gains during the recovery. Hence, state per capita incomes diverged during the contraction phase and converged during the recovery phase.