World Bank Poverty Net
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Опубликовано на портале: 03-12-2003
Ruslan Yemtsov
World Bank Poverty Net.
2002.
This paper analyzes regional data on inequality and poverty in Russia over the period
1994-2000 using published series from the regionally representative Household Budget
Survey. The paper finds that the share of inequality in Russia coming from the between-regions
component is large (close to a third of the total inequality), growing over time,
and accounting for most of the increase in the national inequality over 1994-2000.
The paper demonstrates an absence of inter-regional convergence in incomes across
Russian regions using various techniques, such as beta, sigma convergence and the
transition matrix approach. On the other hand, the paper finds an evidence of convergence
in the inequality within regions, which is trended towards an internationally high
level. Based on these two findings, the paper projects dynamics of inequality and
poverty in Russia over a ten years time horizon. Projections show that if the observed
trend is to continue in the future, by 2010 the absolute majority of the Russia’s
poor will be concentrated in few permanently impoverished regions, while relatively
more affluent regions will become virtually free of poverty. Finally, the paper
relates fluctuations in the inequality within regions to a set of factors determining
the speed of restructuring at the regional level, classified into four broad categories:
endowments and initial conditions, preferences, policies, and shocks; among these
factors short run fluctuations of the unemployment rate are revealed as significant
and strong correlates of inequality.

