U.S. Regional Income and Technology: A Unit-Root and Cointegration Study

Abstract This paper examines income convergence across U.S. regions for the period 1929-2002 using unit root and cointegration techniques. The findings suggest it is difficult to reject non-convergence in per capita incomes across regions even when endogenous breakpoints are included. Interestingly, we also find evidence of cointegration among technology and incomes in the leading regions, but not in the lagging ones, identifying technology as a factor that contributes to the lack of convergence.