Staff Working Paper No. 1,152
By Jenny Chan, Sebastian Ellingsen and Helen Simpson
This paper explores the patterns of spatial income disparities within countries throughout the 20th Century. Following World War II, regional income gaps initially narrowed; however, the rate of convergence has slowed in recent decades, with regional divergence evident in some countries. Despite narrowing income gaps, the incomplete nature of regional income convergence has led to persistent income gaps across the regions in our sample. We synthesise recent contributions seeking to explain these patterns, with an emphasis on insights from quantitative economic geography and macroeconomics.
Spatial inequality, regional growth, and economic geography