Economics (McConnell), 18th Edition

Chapter 4: The U.S. Economy: Private and Public Sectors


1			PERSONAL DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME—WHAT IS THE TREND? Visit the U.S. Census Bureau Web site at www.census.gov and in order select Income, Historical Income Tables, Households, and Table H-2. Since 1970, how has the share of aggregate household income received by the lowest and highest income quintiles (fifths) changed?




2			STATE TAXES AND EXPENDITURES PER CAPITA—WHERE DOES YOUR STATE RANK? Go to the Census Bureau site, www.census.gov/govs/www/state.html, and select years in descending order until you find a table that ranks the states by tax revenue and expenditures per capita. Where does your home state rank in each category? Where does the state in which you are attending college, if different, rank? Speculate as to why a large gap separates the high-ranking and low-ranking states.