The geography of non-employment income in the metropolitan Upper Great Plains: during the 2007-2008 recession

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Edward M. Beaver (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
Selima Sultana

Abstract: Non-employment income (NEI), including investment income from sources such as stock dividends and transfer income from government programs such as Social Security, represents as much as Forty percent of total income in U.S. counties yet receives considerably less attention than earnings. Prior studies have used varying combinations of NEI types and geographies such as rural counties and retirement income. This research study is the first to consider all NEI types and to analyze them strictly within America's major job and population centers: metropolitan counties. 99 metropolitan counties in the Upper Great Plains (Minnesota, Iowa, the Dakotas, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Nebraska) were studied during the Great Recession's beginning in 2007-2008 for patterns of NEI and its sub-types. Important economic, socio-demographic and health variables were analyzed via principal component analysis regression measures to evaluate potential effects on the distribution of NEI among counties. Key variables combined into a principal component indicating sub-optimal socio-economic conditions had statistically significant impacts on lowering a county's investment income while a component with conditions that track with diversity (e.g., percentage of non-whites and renters) had statistically significant impacts on increasing a county's investment income. Further research will improve our understanding of NEI's impacts and influences in its growth or decline.

Additional Information

Publication
Thesis
Language: English
Date: 2013
Keywords
Capital Gains, Great Plains, Income, Transfer Payments
Subjects
Metropolitan areas $z West North Central States $x Economic conditions $y 2001-2009

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