Mexico’s inter-regional inequality: a convergent process?

Using a recently proposed Euclidian measure to quantify inter-regional inequality in per capita GSP (gross state product), we study the convergence among Mexican states during the 1940–2010 period. In ten cases, we find that GSP inequality diverges while the rest of the states’ GSP inequality can be described as the following catching-up or lagging behind processes. For the later processes, we also find evidence of structural breaks. The shifts in the evolution of regional inequality in Mexico for various cases coincide with two distinct periods: the “Mexican Miracle” phase and the “oil/debt crisis” phase.