Milanovic, Branko2012-06-202012-06-202005-09https://hdl.handle.net/10986/8597The paper studies regional (spatial) inequality in the five most populous countries in the world: China, India, the United States, Indonesia, and Brazil in the period 1980-2000. They are all federations or quasi-federations composed of entities with substantial economic autonomy. Two types of regional inequalities are considered: Concept 1 inequality, which is inequality between mean incomes (GDP per capita) of states/provinces, and Concept 2 inequality, which is inequality between population-weighted regional mean incomes. The first inequality speaks to the issue of regional convergence, the second, to the issue of overall inequality as perceived by citizens within a nation. All three Asian countries show rising inequality in terms of both concepts in the 1990s. Divergence in income outcomes is particularly noticeable for the most populous states/provinces in China and India. The United States, where regional inequality is the least, shows further convergence. Brazil, with the highest level of regional inequality, displays no trend. A regression analysis fails to establish robust association between the usual macroeconomic variables and the two types of regional inequality.CC BY 3.0 IGOANNUAL INFLATIONAVERAGE INCOMECITIZENSCONSTANT PRICESCPIDATA COVERAGEDESCRIPTIVE STATISTICSDEVELOPED COUNTRIESECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC POLICIESECONOMIC POLICYECONOMIC THEORYENDOGENOUS GROWTHGDPGINI COEFFICIENTGROWTH RATEGROWTH RATESHIGH INFLATIONHOUSEHOLD SURVEYSINCOMEINCOME CONVERGENCEINCOME DIFFERENCESINCOME GROWTHINCOME INEQUALITYINCOME LEVELINCOME LEVELSINCREASED INEQUALITYINCREASING INEQUALITYINDIVIDUAL COUNTRIESINEQUALITY LEVELSINEQUALITY MEASURESINEQUALITY WILL INCREASEINTERNATIONAL TRADEMEAN INCOMEMEAN INCOMESMEAN LOG DEVIATIONNATIONAL LEVELNATIONAL SURVEYSNOMINAL INCOMESPER CAPITA CONSUMPTIONPER CAPITA INCOMEPER CAPITA INCOMESPERSONAL INCOMEPOLICY RESEARCHPOLITICAL STABILITYPOORPOPULATION GROWTHPOPULATION GROWTH RATESPOPULATION SHAREPOSITIVE RELATIONSHIPPOVERTY REDUCTIONPURCHASING POWERRAPID INCREASEREAL GROWTHREAL INCOMEREGIONAL DIFFERENCESREGIONAL INEQUALITYREGRESSION ANALYSISRELATIVE INCOMERISING INEQUALITYWAGESWELFARE INDICATORSWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-3699