Regional Income Evolution in South Africa After Apartheid*

Abstract

South Africa is one of the wealthiest countries on the African continent. The high national level (and growth) of GDP per capita, however, masks significant differences in economic performance across South Africa's regions. This paper uses (spatial) Markov chain techniques to describe the evolution of the entire cross-section regional income distribution in terms of its intra-distributional characteristics during the post-Apartheid period. The results indicate a heavily diverging regional income distribution. Relatively poor regions are likely to remain poor or become even poorer and the richest regions will maintain their lead in terms of income levels. Explicitly taking account of space furthermore shows that these high-income regions are acting as local growth poles, absorbing economic activity from their immediate surroundings. Location, trade, education, and the variable fortune of the gold mining industry seem to be important determinants of the observed evolution. Copyright (c) Blackwell Publishing, Inc. 2008

Export Specialisation and Local Economic Growth

“…7 Comparing the spatial lag results in Table 3 to the OLS results in Table 2, we find that the results regarding our variables of interest hardly change (the only salient different between the spatial and 'non-spatial' regressions is the magnitude of the coefficient on human capital). Note that the estimated spatial lag coefficient is negative, confirming the negative Moran I-statistic found in Table 2 (see Naudé and Krugell, 2006;Bosker and Krugell, 2008, for more detailed discussions of spatial growth patterns in South Africa).…”

Regional disparity, transitional dynamics and convergence in China

“…Several papers were presented by Quah (1993Quah ( , 1996aQuah ( , 1996c). Since then, many researchers have employed this method (for example, Jones, 1997, Fingleton, 1999, Magrini, 1999, Rey, 2001, Bickenbach and Bode, 2003, Epstein et al, 2003, Li, 2003, Gallo, 2004, Le Gallo, 2004, Sakamoto, 2007, Bosker and Krugell, 2008, Geppert and Stephan, 2008, Sakamoto and Islam, 2008.…”

Income Inequality, Economic Growth, and the Distribution of Income Gains: Evidence From the U.S. States*

“…Yet, studies by Glaeser et al (2009), Easterly (2007, Panizza (2002), Mo (2000), Perotti (1996), Alesina and Rodrik (1994), and Persson and Tabellini (1994) find that an increase in inequality negatively affects economic growth. 7 Bosker and Krugell (2008), using evidence from the regions of South Africa, argue that poor regions will tend to remain poor while rich regions will stay rich. 8 Using European regions data, Rodriguez-Pose and Tselios (2009) show that income inequality is positively associated with educational inequality and negatively associated with female labor force participation.…”

“…7 7 Bosker and Krugell (2008), using evidence from the regions of South Africa, argue that poor regions will tend to remain poor while rich regions will stay rich. …”