So I gave the lunchtime keynote yesterday at the Boston Fed conference on regional divergence. I didn't use slides; but one point I made is that the feds effectively give large aid to lagging states. Here's Federal outlays and receipts by state by state per capita income 1/ 
Outlays slightly declining in income, probably bc of means-tested programs; sharply declining as share of income. Receipts strongly increasing in income. So poor states like Kentucky receive gigantic net inflows, ~20 percent of state GDP 2/
This aid creates jobs too! KY has <6K coal miners, around 250K jobs in health and social assistance. Who do you think pays for that? 3/
