Social Institutions, Gender Inequality, and Regional Convergence in Developing Countries.

• Superior document: Goettinger Studien Zur Entwicklungsoekonomik / Goettingen Studies in Development Economics Series ; v.33
• Author: Branisa Caballero, Boris.
• Place / Publishing House: Frankfurt a.M. : : Peter Lang GmbH, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften,, 2012.; ©2012.
• Year of Publication: 2012
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: Goettinger Studien Zur Entwicklungsoekonomik / Goettingen Studies in Development Economics Series
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (258 pages)

This book contributes to the understanding of gender and regional inequalities in developing countries. First, it deals with social institutions related to gender inequality and proposes new composite indices to measure them. Using these indices, some interesting empirical connections between social institutions related to gender inequality and several relevant development outcomes are examined at the cross-country level. The second part of the book is concerned with the historical development of another type of inequality which is relevant for developing countries: inequality between regions. The topic of regional convergence in Colombia during the last quarter of the 20th century is analyzed using different approaches and focusing on both income and social indicators.

Table of Contents

Cover -- Editor's Preface -- Author's Preface -- List of Tables -- List of Figures -- List of Abbreviations -- Introduction and Overview -- I Social institutions and gender inequality -- 1 The Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) -- 1.1 Introduction -- 1.2 The Database -- 1.3 Construction of the Subindices -- 1.3.1 Measuring the Association between Categorical Variables -- 1.3.2 Aggregating Variables to Build a Subindex -- 1.4 The Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) -- 1.5 Results -- 1.5.1 Country Rankings and Regional Patterns -- 1.5.2 Simple Correlation with other Gender-related Indices -- 1.5.3 Regression Analysis -- 1.6 Conclusion -- 1.7 Tables -- 1.8 Figures -- 2 Why care about social inst. related to gender ineq. -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 Social Institutions and Household Decisions -- 2.2.1 Social Institutions and Female Education -- 2.2.2 Social Institutions and Fertility and Child Mortality Rates -- 2.3 Social Institutions and the Society: Governance -- 2.4 Data -- 2.5 Empirical estimation and Results -- 2.5.1 Empirical estimation -- 2.5.2 Results -- 2.6 Conclusion -- 2.7 Tables -- 3 Reexamining the link between gender and corruption -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 Empirical Estimation and Results -- 3.2.1 Data -- 3.2.2 Empirical Estimation -- 3.2.3 Results -- 3.3 Conclusion -- 3.4 Tables -- 3.5 Figures -- II Regional growth convergence in Colombia -- 4 Regional convergence in Colombia: Income indicators -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 Motivation and Background -- 4.2.1 Economic Background -- 4.2.2 Data Issues Affecting Convergence Results in Colombia -- 4.3 The Solow Model and Its Estimation -- 4.3.1 The Solow Model -- 4.3.2 Absolute Beta-Convergence -- 4.3.3 Conditional Convergence -- 4.3.4 Parameter Heterogeneity: Are There Different Steady States? -- 4.3.5 Sigma-Convergence -- 4.4 Distributional Approach: Quah's Critique.

4.5 Empirical Estimation and Results -- 4.5.1 Sigma-Convergence -- 4.5.2 Absolute Beta-Convergence -- 4.5.3 Conditional Beta-Convergence Using Control Variables -- 4.5.4 Beta-Convergence Using Time-Series Cross-Sectional Data -- 4.5.5 Kernel Density Estimators -- 4.6 Conclusions -- 4.7 Tables -- 4.8 Figures -- 5 Regional convergence in Colombia: Social indicators -- 5.1 Introduction -- 5.2 Motivation -- 5.3 Methods for Measuring Convergence -- 5.4 Data and Empirical Estimation -- 5.4.1 Data -- 5.4.2 Empirical estimation -- 5.5 Results -- 5.5.1 Literacy Rate -- 5.5.2 Infant Survival Rate -- 5.5.3 Life Expectancy at Birth -- 5.5.4 Nourishment -- 5.6 Conclusions -- 5.7 Tables -- 5.8 Figures -- Appendices -- Appendix to Essay 1.