Cycles, Convergence and Interregional Adjustment

Abstract

Economist’s concerns with distribution neither extend over all possible distributional descriptions nor rest on particular ones selected as if at random. Most particularly we classify returns to and economic activities of individuals by occupation and industry, by age, race and sex, and by level of education. Normally we do not collect information on the distribution of returns among individuals according to their height, weight, or the color of their hair, their food preferences, or whether they are Democrats or Republicans. That these kinds of classifications do not emerge, while the former do, is not an accident, nor is the final choice of classifications due to the vagaries of data collection. Rather, it is because we are concerned with observing the consequences of immobilizing factors. To change one’s race or sex is possible only under extreme circumstances. To change one’s occupation, employer, or residence frequently is quite costly. To amass the human or physical capital required to bring one’s earnings stream up to that of his neighbor might require more than a lifetime.