THE CHANGING CONTEXT OF STATE POLITICAL-ECONOMY

Increasingly, attention has turned to state governments and their economies. This new field of inquiry has been plagued by a paradox. Specifically, while many observers describe heightened economic activism among the states, there is a paucity of evidence indicating that such activity makes any difference. This study presents a simple model of state political economy and examines it in three periods: 1968–1973, 1974–1979, and 1980–1985. Using pooled cross sectional time-series analysis it is found that states have become more autonomous economic domains over the course of these periods and, as they have, state level political attributes have come to play an increasing role in shaping growth in per capita personal income. © 1991, Southern Political Science Association. All rights reserved.