Abstract

This paper examines the determinants of governors' salaries for the forty-eight contiguous states. State budgetary variables, personal income, population, unemployment rate and state government employment are the primary determinants of governors' compensation. There appears to be a large amount of convergence among salaries over the forty year sample period; the states with lower pay in 1961 experienced faster growth in their governor's compensation. Thus, findings support the view that a governor's pay is based primarily on the responsibility measured by the economic size of the state and the size of a state's government.