On the Regional Convergence of Income at District Level in Slovakia

Pauhofová, Iveta and Želinský, Tomáš (2017): On the Regional Convergence of Income at District Level in Slovakia. Published in: Ekonomický časopis , Vol. 10, No. 65 (2017): pp. 918-934.

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate regional convergence of income at the district level in Slovakia and answer whether Slovak districts converge or diverge over time and across different sectors of the Slovak economy. Our analyses are based on monthly income data on median wages and old-age pensions at the district territorial level (LAU 1). Two types of convergence are assessed: conver-gence towards national median income and convergence towards regional (NUTS 3 regions) median income. Using the Markov chains on the spatially lagged bimonthly district medians, we find that the highest degree of wages convergence is found in the districts of Banská Bystrica, Žilina and Nitra Regions; and the highest degree of old-age pensions convergence is found in the districts of Košice and Banská Bystrica Regions. The given trends are influenced by the wages development in different economic activity sectors in these regions.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: regional convergence, income polarization, Markov chains, Slovakia
• Subjects: D - Microeconomics > D3 - Distribution > D31 - Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I3 - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty > I31 - General Welfare, Well-Being; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I3 - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty > I32 - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty; R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R1 - General Regional Economics > R12 - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity

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