International Convergence or Higher Inequality in Human Development? Evidence for 1975 to 2002

human development, convergence, inequality, polarization

International Convergence and Inequality of Human Development: 1975-2001

The concept of convergence is extended to non-income components of human development index and the index itself. Evidence of weak absolute convergence is found over 1975-2001. The results are robust and verified by various conditional ß-convergence models and also supported by the evidence of weak s-convergence. Population weighted analyses provide support for polarisation amongst developing countries but a slight reduction in world inequality. The dynamics of regional analysis reveals a movement of sub-Saharan Africa towards the low band of human development with Asia and Latin America making progress. High immobility of the early part of the period is followed by considerable upward and downward mobility in the latter part indicating a possible case of the “twin peaks” type of polarisation.

Spatial inequality and polarisation in India

This paper analyses the extent of inequality amongst the major states of India over nearly two decades. It reviews various theoretical propositions for possible convergence and divergence and argues that while the evidence from the more developed countries supports the case of convergence the empirical evidence shows that the Indian states are on the course of divergence rather than convergence. The paper also investigates if the increasing inequality amongst the states have been coupled with polarisation. Some possible dimensions around which polarisation may have taken place are analysed of which some seem to be highly influential.

Human Development and Regional Disparities in India

There is enough evidence to suggest that regional disparities within most developing countries are alarmingly high and probably increasing. This paper analyses regional disparities amongst major states in India to find out if they are on a convergence or further divergence course. It compares human development and poverty indices for various states in India and investigates if there has been any reduction in disparities over a decade. The analysis is extended to the evolution of disparities amongst the states with respect to a larger set of socio-economic indicators. A number of regional composite indices are constructed from the selected indicators and tested for their validity. The paper then suggests and applies a method for computing targets aiming at reducing regional disparities systematically. Finally a number of inequality and polarisation measures are employed to see the change in inequality and polarisation over the decade and whether the suggested method results in a reduction in both these phenomena.

Human Development and Regional Disparities in Iran:A Policy Model

This paper argues that the future of the Human Development Index published by the United Nations depends on how successfully this index becomes operational and this is more likely to be possible at the country level for a variety of reasons. With this in mind the paper proposes a method and a model for the systematic reduction of regional disparities in the Islamic Republic of Iran, a problem which is of serious concern to policy makers in Iran at present. A number of indicators of education, health and economic welfare, from the recent Human Development Report of Iran 1999, are employed to compare 26 provinces (regions) of Iran. This paper proposes (i) a method for combining the data into a composite index of development and thereby ranking provinces with respect to their overall development; (ii) it proposes a method for capturing the extent of regional disparities with respect to the selected indicators and (iii) it suggests a way of including the results into a policy model which aims at the systematic reduction of regional disparities in Iran. For this purpose it computes a set of targets for various provinces and suggests a way of adjusting these targets.

The implementation of policy conditions in structural adjustment programmes: The case of Sub-Saharan African countries

If, as some recent research seems to suggest, the economic performance of countries that comply with World Bank conditionality is significantly better than that of countries that do not comply, then an important topic for research is the identification of factors that increase the likelihood of programme countries’ compliance. This paper starts research in this area by employing data recently released by the World Bank that allow a classification of Sub-Saharan African programme countries according to their compliance with adjustment lending conditionality. The empirical results are sensible and have important implications for the design and management of policy-based lending.