TY - JOUR

T1 - Regional Inequality in Russia: Anatomy of Convergence

AU - Gluschenko, Konstantin

N1 - This study was supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation in the framework of large-scale research project “Socioeconomic Development of Asian Russia on the Basis of Synergy of Transport Accessibility, System Knowledge of the Natural Resource Potential, and Expanding Space of Inter-Regional Interactions,” Agreement no. 075-15-2020-804 of October 2, 2020 (grant no. 13.1902.21.0016). Публикация для корректировки.

PY - 2023/12

Y1 - 2023/12

N2 - In 2002–2018, the inequality between Russian regions in terms of real personal incomes per capita was decreasing, which indicates convergence. In this context, real incomes mean that they are comparable across regions, being adjusted for regional price levels. This paper reveals the “anatomy” of the convergence process, finding the role of every individual region in it. To do so, regional time series of real incomes per capita are tested for catching-up with the national income per capita. Unlike the widespread methodology of testing convergence with the use of time-series methods, nonlinear asymptotically decaying trends model the convergence processes in this paper. The results obtained suggest that 54.4% of the Russian regions exhibit convergence, and 20.3% of regions maintain a stable (on average) income gap. At the same time, there is a significant proportion of deterministically diverging regions, equaling 22.8%. Two regions only (2.5%) do not exhibit a regular behavior.

AB - In 2002–2018, the inequality between Russian regions in terms of real personal incomes per capita was decreasing, which indicates convergence. In this context, real incomes mean that they are comparable across regions, being adjusted for regional price levels. This paper reveals the “anatomy” of the convergence process, finding the role of every individual region in it. To do so, regional time series of real incomes per capita are tested for catching-up with the national income per capita. Unlike the widespread methodology of testing convergence with the use of time-series methods, nonlinear asymptotically decaying trends model the convergence processes in this paper. The results obtained suggest that 54.4% of the Russian regions exhibit convergence, and 20.3% of regions maintain a stable (on average) income gap. At the same time, there is a significant proportion of deterministically diverging regions, equaling 22.8%. Two regions only (2.5%) do not exhibit a regular behavior.

KW - Russian regions

KW - catching-up

KW - nonlinear trend

KW - real income

UR - https://www.scopus.com/record/display.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85185689398&origin=inward&txGid=1357e4e8fd64c71804bbfa47581d9ac0

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/38871272-4fbf-36ed-be4e-c6f37db789d9/

U2 - 10.1134/S207997052360004X

DO - 10.1134/S207997052360004X

M3 - Article

VL - 13

SP - S1–S12

JO - Regional Research of Russia

JF - Regional Research of Russia

SN - 2079-9705

IS - Suppl 1

M1 - 1

ER -