Regional well-being in the OECD

Abstract

This paper analyses convergence in well-being across 395 OECD regions in the period 2000–2014 using data from the Regional Well-being Dataset. It is widely known that well-being is a concept that goes far beyond income. However, whereas papers analysing convergence on income abound, the literature considering convergence in well-being is virtually nonexistent, especially at the regional level. Convergence is approached following the distribution dynamics technique and conditional density estimation (CDE), well-established data-driven methods that allow for the assessment of the shape and the time evolution of the kernel distribution of well-being. Moreover, the paper also assesses the role of a set of potential well-being determinants. Results show great disparities across the OECD regions, and no signs of convergence in the studied period. On the contrary, regions polarised into two clubs of low and high well-being, and country level factors explain in a large extent the observed tendencies.