Knowledge that Transforms

This paper considers some of the shortcomings of an income per I capita measure of and suggests an alternative capitalized value of expected future income per capita. Part I considers briefly some of the variables that a generally acceptable empirical welfare function should include and defines the capital value measure; Part II compares this measure of with the commonly used measure, income per capita; Part III presents and analyzes the results of computations of economic well-being for a number of United States cities, by both measures; Part IV considers some implications of a present value measure for interregional migration.