''Nominal'' and ''real'' interstate income inequality in the United States: Some additional evidence

Using a good inequality index, and data on personal income and cost-of-living estimates for the period 1981-90, interstate inequality in ''nominal'' and ''real'' personal income per capita is compared. Four points are noted. First, inequality in real income is smaller than that in nominal income. Second, while the nominal-income inequality shows the well-known increase over the 1980s, real-income inequality declined during the period. Third, inequality patterns in the wage and the non-wage components of income are somewhat different. Last, even the nominal-income inequality indicates a decline in the early 1990s.