class: center, middle, inverse, title-slide # Economic and Social Disparities across Subnational Regions of South America: ## A Spatial Convergence Approach ### Carlos Mendez<br /><a href="https://carlos-mendez.rbind.io" class="uri">https://carlos-mendez.rbind.io</a><br /><br />Associate Professor<br />Graduate School of International Development<br />Nagoya University<br /> JAPAN ### Prepared for the Society of the 57th/2020 Annual Conference of the Japan Society of Social Science on Latin America (JSLA) <br /><br />[ Slides and paper available at: <a href="https://quarcs-lab.org" class="uri">https://quarcs-lab.org</a> ] --- class: center, middle <style type="text/css"> .highlight-last-item > ul > li, .highlight-last-item > ol > li { opacity: 0.5; } .highlight-last-item > ul > li:last-of-type, .highlight-last-item > ol > li:last-of-type { opacity: 1; } </style> ### Joint work with Felipe Santos-Marquez Nagoya University https://felipe-santos.rbind.io --- class: middle, center # A summary of the paper in 2 slides... --- class: highlight-last-item ## Motivation: - High economic and social inequality in South America. -- - Lack of studies about **regional inequality covering multiple countries** -- ## Research Objective: Study **the role of spatial dependence and heterogeneity** in the evolution of economic and social disparities across South America -- ## Methods: Absolute **beta convergence model** for cross-sectional data -- - Spatial dependence analysis using **spatial lag and error models** -- - Spatial heterogeneity analysis using a **geographically weighted regression** -- ## Data: - The new **subnational human development index** of Smits and Permanyer (2019) -- - **GNI per capita and HDI** data for 151 subnational regions over the 1990-2018 period -- --- class: middle, highlight-last-item ## Main Results: 1. Regional disparities for GNI are **increasing**, but **decreasing** for HDI -- 2. **On average**, there is a process of **beta convergence for both GNI and HDI** - Beta convergence in GNI is **not sufficient to reduce regional disparities in GNI** -- 3. **Spatial dependence plays a significant role** in accelerating/decelerating the speed of regional convergence - Spatial dependence **accelerates the speed of regional convergence** in some decades, but **decelerates it** in others. -- 4. **Going beyond the average**, the speed of convergence is **largely heterogeneous across space** - Multi-country clusters showing **both convergence and divergence** patterns --- class: middle # Outline of this presentation 1. Overview of the data 2. A beta convergence framework - Non-spatial approach - Spatial dependence approach - Spatial heterogeneity approach 3. Main results of the paper - Convergence and the role of spatial dependence - Convergence and the role of spatial heterogeneity <br /> <br /> [ Slides and paper available at: https://quarcs-lab.org ] --- class: center, middle # (1) Overview of the data  Regional disparities are **increasing** for GNI, but **decreasing** for HDI --- class: center, middle # (2) Beta convergence framework Non-spatial approach Spatial dependence approach Spatial heterogeneity approach --- class: middle, center # Beta convergence ## A description of a catch-up process  --- class: middle, center # Spatial dependence ## Regions interact and their performance is interdependent across space  --- class: middle, center # Spatial heterogeneity ## Spatial interactions and performance varies across space  --- class: middle, center # (3) Main results Convergence and the role of spatial dependence Convergence and the role of spatial heterogeneity --- class: middle, center # Spatial dependence in GNI  --- class: middle, center # Spatial dependence in HDI  --- class: middle, center # Spatial heterogeneity in GNI  --- class: middle, center # Spatial heterogeneity in HDI  --- class: highlight-last-item # Concluding Remarks - A standard convergence model indicates that, **on average**, low-development regions are catching up with high-development regions - For GNI, this process in **not sufficient to reduce regional inequality** -- - Spatial dependence **accelerates the speed of regional convergence** in some decades, but **decelerates it** in others. -- - **Beyond the average**, the speed of convergence is **highly heterogeneous across space** -- ## Implications -- - Spatial **dependence and heterogeneity are important** for understanding the dynamics of regional inequality - Single summary indicators that **fail to account the role of space could be highly misleading** -- - Across subnational regions of South America, **economic disparities are more prevalent** that social disparities -- ## Further research -- - Use other spatial dependence specifications in a panel-data setting. - Use multi-scale and mixed geographically weighted regressions. --- class: center, middle # Thank you very much for your attention https://carlos-mendez.rbind.io Slides and working paper available at: https://quarcs-lab.org  **Quantitative Regional and Computational Science lab** hhttps://quarcs-lab.org *** This research project was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 19K13669