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The Geography of Wage Inequality in British Cities

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  • Neil Lee
  • Paul Sissons
  • Katy Jones
Abstract
Lee N., Sissons P. and Jones K. The geography of wage inequality in British cities, Regional Studies. There is widespread concern about the scale and implications of urban inequality in Great Britain, but little evidence about which cities are the most unequal and why. This paper investigates patterns of wage inequality in 60 British cities. It has two principal goals: (1) to describe which cities are most unequal; and (2) to assess the important determinants of inequality. The results show a distinct geography of wage inequality: the most unequal cities tend to be affluent and located in parts of the Greater South East of England. A central determinant of these patterns is the geography of highly skilled workers. Because of this, the geography of urban wage inequality reflects the geography of affluence more generally.

Suggested Citation

  • Neil Lee & Paul Sissons & Katy Jones, 2016. "The Geography of Wage Inequality in British Cities," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(10), pages 1714-1727, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:regstd:v:50:y:2016:i:10:p:1714-1727
    DOI: 10.1080/00343404.2015.1053859
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    4. Haixiao Wu, 2018. "Is There a Kuznets Curve for Intra-City Earnings Inequality?," Working Papers 2018-09, The George Washington University, Institute for International Economic Policy.
    5. Rafa Madariaga & Joan Carles Martori & Ramon Oller, 2019. "Wage income inequality in Catalonian second-rank cities," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 62(2), pages 285-304, April.
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    9. David Castells‐Quintana & Vicente Royuela & Paolo Veneri, 2020. "Inequality and city size: An analysis for OECD functional urban areas," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 99(4), pages 1045-1064, August.
    10. Paul Sissons, 2021. "The local low skills equilibrium: Moving from concept to policy utility," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(8), pages 1543-1560, June.
    11. Nicola Cortinovis & Dongmiao Zhang & Ron Boschma, 2022. "Regional diversification and intra-regional wage inequality in the Netherlands," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2216, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Aug 2022.
    12. Murphy James T., 2022. "Urban-economic geographies beyond production: Nairobi’s sociotechnical system and the challenge of generative urbanization," ZFW – Advances in Economic Geography, De Gruyter, vol. 66(1), pages 18-35, May.
    13. Diana Barros & Aurora A. C. Teixeira, 2021. "Unlocking the black box: A comprehensive meta-analysis of the main determinants of within-region income inequality," Review of Regional Research: Jahrbuch für Regionalwissenschaft, Springer;Gesellschaft für Regionalforschung (GfR), vol. 41(1), pages 55-93, February.
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs
    • R10 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - General
    • R13 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - General Equilibrium and Welfare Economic Analysis of Regional Economies
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

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