A Study on Convergence/Divergence of Metropolitan Areas in the United States

Rita Ray

This paper investigates the convergence of real GDP per-capita for three hundred and seventy and the largest fifty five metropolitan areas in the United States for the period 2001 and 2012. This paper considers the metropolitan areas for four regions in the United States and examines the similarity and difference of the nature of convergence across regions. Finally, this paper examines the convergence and the effect of non-English speaker and high school graduates on the growth of real GDP per-capita for the largest thirty one metropolitan areas for the period 2005 and 2012. This paper finds that the real GDP per-capita of three hundred and seventy and the largest fifty five metropolitan areas in the United States are diverging for the period 2001 and 2012. This paper finds that the metropolitan areas in the West are diverging and other three regions they are converging. This paper also finds that the real GDP per-capita of the largest thirty one metropolitan areas is diverging and the share of high school has positive effect on the growth.

JEL Classification: O47, O51

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.21102/gefj.2015.03.81.06