What exactly is spatial inequality? Why does it matter? And what should be the policy response to it? These questions have become important in recent years as the spatial dimensions of inequality have begun to attract considerable policy interest. In China, Russia, India, Mexico, and SouthAfrica, as well as most other developing and transition economies, spatial and regional inequality - of economic activity, incomes, and social indicators - is on the increase. Spatial inequality is a dimension of overall inequality, but it has added significance when spatial and regional divisions align with political and ethnic tensions to undermine social and political stability. Also important in the policy debate is a perceived sense that increasing internal spatialinequality is related to greater openness of economies, and to globalization in general. Despite these important concerns, there is remarkably little systematic documentation of what has happened to spatial and regional inequality over the last twenty years. Correspondingly, there is insufficient understanding of the determinants of internal spatial inequality. This volume attempts to answer the questions posed above, drawing on data from twenty-five countries from all regions of the world. They bring together perspectives and expertise in development economics and in economic geography and form a well-researched introduction to an area of growinganalytical and policy importance.
An introduction to an area of growing analytical and policy importance: spatial and regional inequality, which can create tension and instability in developing and transition economies. Drawing on data from 25 countries from around the world, it answers the following key questions: What exactly is spatial inequality? Why does it matter?
1. Introduction; 2. Regional Output Differences in International Perspective; 3. Are Neighbors Equal? Estimating Local Inequality in Three Developing Countries; 4. Market Size, Linkages and Productivity: A Study of Japanese Regions; 5. Externalities in Rural Development: Evidence for China; 6. Opening the Convergence Black Box: Measurement Problems and Demographic Aspects; 7. Adverse Geography and Differences in Welfare in Peru; 8. How Responsive is Poverty to Growth? A Regional Analysis of Poverty, Inequality and Growth in Indonesia, 1984-1999; 9. Reforms, Remoteness and Risk in Africa: Understanding Inequality and Poverty During the 1990s; 10. Economic Polarization Through Trade: Trade Liberalization and Regional Growth in Mexico; 11. International Trade, Location and Wage inequality in China; 12. Spatial Inequality for Manufacturing Wages in Five African Countries; 13. Regional Poverty and Income Inequality in Central and Eastern Europe: Evidence from the Luxembourg Income Study; 14. Quo Vadis: Inequality and Poverty Dynamics Across Russian Regions