Convergence without Mobility? Reconceptualizing International Development

• In Event: 286 - Section on Sociology of Development Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Paper Session: Table 03. Inequality

Abstract

Recent decades have witnessed substantial cross-national convergence in income, health, and education. However, the extent to which countries have reordered themselves along the development hierarchy receives less attention. In this study, I highlight the conceptual distinctions between convergence and mobility. Not only do they represent discrete processes, but the likelihood and extent to which they each occur often differs substantially. Using simulation data, I show that large cross-national disparities will hinder mobility, but actually induce convergence. In doing so, I show that the cross-national convergence that occurred in GDP PC between 1980 and 2010 was primarily a function of large income gaps between countries and would not have materialized at more moderate levels of initial inequality. I then more fully develop a model of mobility in which country-level movement is a function of several sample characteristics, including initial inequality, growth dynamics, and temporal span. I find that observed mobility rates across several development indicators (GDP PC, HDI, and life expectancy) are significantly lower than what the model predicts. In sum, the analysis of mobility at the macro comparative level can serve as a useful complement to existing research and produces an image of development and change not typically found in convergence studies.

Author

• Rob Clark, University of Oklahoma