Spatial empirics for economic growth and convergence

This paper suggests some new empirical strategies for analyzing the evoluti on of regional income distribution over time and space. These approaches ar e based on extensions to the classical Markov transition matrices that allo w for a more comprehensive analysis of the geographical dimensions of the t ransitional dynamics. This is achieved by integrating some recently develop ed local spatial statistics within a Markov framework. Insights to not only the frequency with which one economy may transitions may or may not be spa tially dependent are provided by these new measures. A number of indices ar e suggested as ways to characterize the space-time dynamics and are illustr ated in a case study of U.S regional income dynamics over the 1929-1994 per iod.