Desigualdad regional en el centro de México. Una exploración espacial de la productividad en el nivel municipal durante el período 1988-2003

• Published in: Investigaciones regionales no. 13; pp. 5 - 34
• Main Author: López, Marcos Valdivia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Spanish
• Published: Madrid Investigaciones Regionales 2008; Asociación Española de Ciencia Regional; Marcial Pons; AECR
• Subjects: autocorrelación espacial; Convergence; convergencia; desigualdad; Estudios Territoriales; Inequality; Labor productivity; México; procesos Markov; productividad; Productivity; regiones; Regions; Studies; Mexico
• ISSN: 1695-7253; 2340-2717

This essay employs nonparametric and spatial techniques commonly used in the Spatial Economics literature to study labor productivity of the central region of Mexico at the municipal (county) level. In particular, researchers measure the spatial autocorrelation of the labor productivity and use a spatial approach to study the intra-distributional changes of productivity. The results show that the labor productivity reveals strong local disparities and spatial dependency across municipals. When sub regions are defined by the spatial autocorrelation of labor productivity, it is found that the central region of Mexico has maintained a strong polarization between rich (the metropolitan area of Mexico City) and poor regions (south of Puebla). The spatial results of this essay can be related to the findings of other regional studies that detect a spatial refunctionalization of the manufacture activities, migration flows, and sub-metropolitan regions in the central region of Mexico since the beginning of the liberalization process.