Living Costs, The Quality of Life, and the "Sunbelt" vs "Frostbelt" Battle in the United states

Cebula, Richard (1984): Living Costs, The Quality of Life, and the "Sunbelt" vs "Frostbelt" Battle in the United states. Published in: The Review of Regional Studies , Vol. 15, No. 3 (28 December 1985): pp. 49-53.

Abstract

This empirical study identifies factors that have contributed to the differential growth rates between the so-called "sun-belt" states on the one hand and the so-called "frost-belt" states on the other hand. The model deals with the 48 contiguous states and the 1975-1980 time period. It finds that the lower living costs in the sun-belt states have contributed a great deal to their growth rate by attracting migrants. Furthermore, the the generally warmer temperatures and greater presence of sunshine have contributed to attracting more migrants to the sun-belt and hence have contributed to the higher economic growth of the latter.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: regional economic growth; climate; lower living costs
• Subjects: H - Public Economics > H4 - Publicly Provided Goods > H41 - Public Goods; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J4 - Particular Labor Markets > J47 - Coercive Labor Markets; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J6 - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers > J61 - Geographic Labor Mobility ; Immigrant Workers; R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R1 - General Regional Economics > R11 - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes; R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R2 - Household Analysis > R23 - Regional Migration ; Regional Labor Markets ; Population ; Neighborhood Characteristics

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