Black and white print with members of the Luhrs family. Typescript annotation, "July 17th, 1914. Going down Bright Angel Canyon of Arizona, Those on the mules, from bottom up: unknown, unknown, Ella Luhrs, Emma Luhrs, George H. N. Luhrs, unknown, Roger Hunt, George Luhrs Jr., Catherine Margarita 'Gretchen' (Mrs Geo H. N.) Luhrs standing beside George Luhrs Jr." Beside the trail, a sign displays, "Photo by Kolb Brothers."

Mounted black and white photograph with a typescript annotation, "July 17 1914. Making the trip down Bright Angel trail at the Grand Canyon of Arizona on mules. Left to right: George H. N. Luhrs, Jr., unknown, George H. N. Luhrs, Emma Luhrs, Ella Luhrs. Bright Angel Trail to the Colorado River, at bottom on canyon."

This paper explores whether a knowledge economy explanation for economic growth seems to fit with the growth experience of the Sunbelt during the 1990s. The issue is addressed through analysis of two different datasets. First, the education and income characteristics of the people moving to the Sunbelt region are examined using migration data from the 2000 census. Then we look at the link between the knowledge economy metric of the share of college educated adults and economic growth in the Sunbelt in the 1990s using data for 116 Sunbelt MSAs.

This paper provides a capsule perspective on the lessons economists have learned from investigating growth and income gaps across countries. After providing the lessons for growth and development across countries, the paper asks whether these lessons can be extended to growth and income differentials between regions or states of the United States. It should be stressed that applying to regional growth what is known about country growth is partly untested at this time, and hence merely suggestive.