Wallace Michael, Li Angran, Hyde Allen
Department of Sociology, University of Connecticut, 344 Mansfield Rd, Storrs, CT 06269-2068 USA.
Department of Sociology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
Soc Indic Res. 2022;160(1):401-426. doi: 10.1007/s11205-021-02799-0. Epub 2021 Oct 5.
The Great Recession (GR) of 2007-2009 marked the most devastating economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s, and its consequences dramatically changed almost every aspect of social life. This research introduces the Great Recession Index (GRI), a place-based composite measure that captures the multidimensional nature of the GR. The GRI can be used to examine macro-level outcomes and is especially well-suited for examining the spatial variation and longterm effects of the GR. The GRI is adaptable to a variety of geospatial units of analysis, and in this article, we develop measures for countries, U.S. states, and U.S. metropolitan areas. Then, using the state-based GRI, we provide a research application to demonstrate the utility of the GRI for explaining state-level income inequality in the post-Recession period. The results show that the initial shock of the GR decreased the income share of upper-class households, but the aftershock of the Recession increased their income share, resulting in increased income inequality in the U.S. since the Recession. This paper concludes by considering the feasibility of using similar measures for evaluating the effects of catastrophic events such as wars, civil unrest, climate change, natural disasters, or pestilence on societal outcomes.
2007 - 2009年的大衰退（GR）是自20世纪30年代大萧条以来最具破坏性的经济衰退，其后果极大地改变了社会生活的几乎方方面面。本研究引入了大衰退指数（GRI），这是一种基于地点的综合指标，它体现了大衰退的多维度特征。GRI可用于考察宏观层面的结果，尤其适合用于考察大衰退的空间差异和长期影响。GRI适用于各种地理空间分析单元，在本文中，我们针对国家、美国各州以及美国大都市区制定了相关指标。然后，我们利用基于州的GRI进行了一项研究应用，以证明GRI在解释衰退后时期州层面收入不平等问题上的效用。结果表明，大衰退的初始冲击降低了上层阶级家庭的收入份额，但衰退的余波增加了他们的收入份额，导致自衰退以来美国的收入不平等加剧。本文最后探讨了使用类似指标评估战争、内乱、气候变化、自然灾害或瘟疫等灾难性事件对社会结果影响的可行性。
