Regional Convergence in Latin America
29 Pages Posted: 21 Jun 2006
Date Written: May 2006
Abstract
This paper presents empirical evidence on convergence of per capita output for regions within six large middle-income Latin American countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru. It explores the role played by several exogenous sectoral shocks and differences in steady states within each country. It finds that poor and rich regions within each country converged at very low rates over the past three decades. It also finds evidence of regional 'convergence clubs' within Brazil and Peru - the estimated speeds of convergence for these countries more than double after controlling for different subnational levels of steady state. For the latter countries and Chile, convergence is also higher after controlling for sector-specific shocks. Finally, results show that national disparities in per capita output increased temporarily after each country pursued trade liberalization.
Keywords: growth, convergence, regional disparities, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru
JEL Classification: C21, O47, O56, R11
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?
Recommended Papers
-
Latin America in the Rearview Mirror
By Harold L. Cole, Lee E. Ohanian, ...
-
Brazil's Long-Term Growth Performance - Trying to Explain the Puzzle
By Ricardo Adrogue, Martin D. Cerisola, ...
-
Special-Interest Groups and Growth
By Dennis Coates, Jac C. Heckelman, ...
-
Special-Interest Groups and Volatility
By Dennis Coates, Jac C. Heckelman, ...
-
Interest Group Activity and Long-Run Stock Market Performance
By Dennis Coates and Bonnie Wilson
-
Sustaining Latin America's Resurgence: Some Historical Perspectives
By Martin D. Cerisola and Anoop Singh