Regional disparities and convergences in Asia

Abstract

This paper analyses the disparity and convergence between the 10 and 11 countries of ASEAN and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) respectively and the 31 sub-national regions (provinces) in China.The regional disparity levels and trends were analysed using the Gini coefficient between the regions (nominal GDP, GDP per capita and GDP per capita in Purchasing Parity Power, PPP). The convergence analysis was evaluated using the Disparity Range Coefficient (DRC), the Average Disparity Range Coefficient (ADRC), and the σ- and b-convergence. The time period covered was 2000–2008 (ASEAN and CIS) and 2000–2006 (China).The results show a relatively high regional disparity between the Asian macro-regions of ASEAN and CIS and much lower disparities between the China sub-regions. The disparities were highest if based on the nominal GDP and lower if based on the DGP per capita. The GDP per capita was lower, between 0.30 to 0.4 for the CIS and China, and around 0.7 in ASEAN. The convergence analysis showed mixed results. Based on the DRC analysis, none of the Asian macro-regions converged. All three macro-regions diverged 1.4 to 12.68 times quicker than the average macro-regional GDP per capita grew, ASEAN being at the divergence top and China at the bottom. Based on the ADRC analysis, all macro-regions also proved to diverge. However, the divergence rates were much lower. For macro-regions China and CIS, the divergence was slower than macro-regional growth, thus their divergence was moderate. On the other side, if the macro-region was calculated using the σ-convergence analysis, the converging macro-regions were ASEAN and China, with 2.13% and 0.47% respectively. CIS was diverging at the speed of 1.25% per year. Based on b-convergence, ASEAN and China were converging (1.54% and 1.32%), and a slow divergence trend was registered for CIS, 1.01%.