Spatial Inequality in Wealth: A Bayesian Analysis of the Northeastern US in 1860 - Does Space Matter

Abstract

AbstractIndividual inequality is growing in America today and the subject is of great interest. But spatial inequality —“how and why spatial context contributes to inequality” (Labao et. al. 2007:3) -has just begun to be studied. If certain geographical areas are inherently richer due to accessibility, population size, or soils, for example, how much individual equality can a society hope to achieve? Furthermore, inequality due to spatial differences seems to endure over time (Labao and Hooks 2007:48; Peters 2012) and may be quite difficult to alter. This paper describes spatial inequality in wealth at the county level in the middle of the nineteenth century in the Northeastern US at a time when the US economy was growing rapidly and individual inequality was increasing. It applies Bayesian hierarchical spatial modeling in an attempt to understand the underlying causes of the differences in wealth between counties. The underlying spatial structure of inequality was rather different at this time: indeed, the urban agglomerations and industrial economy we know today were just coming into being. A unique feature of our work is the inclusion of a measure of soil quality that has not been used so far in either historical or contemporary investigations.