Differences in household income per head over the UK trade cycle; a comment

In a recent short paper Dewhurst (1998) demonstrated that, from 1984-93, th ere was convergence in GB regional and household incomes per head during sl umps and divergence during booms. This paper suggests that these findings a re the result of two main influences. The first is the fact that the cycle is damped in more peripheral and lower mean household income per head areas and the second that there is a time in the cycle lag between an upturn or downturn in Greater London/the rest of the South East and the same effect i n more distant locations. Various suggestions are put forward for these res ults. There is also discussion of the usefulness of these results for forec asting purposes.