UNU-WIDER Book launch on Rising Spatial Disparities and Development: why do they matter?

Announcement in PDF (72.57 kilobytes)

Spatial disparities are a measure of the unequal distribution of income, wealth, power and resources between peoples in different locations. As a dimension of overall inequality, spatial disparities have added significance when combined with regional divisions and political and ethnic tensions that can undermine social and political stability. The accurate measurement of spatial disparities and the analysis of their causes and consequences are therefore of particular importance.

The study by the World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University (UNU-WIDER) focuses on issues of poverty and inequality that are directly related to the Millennium Development Goals. It addresses a wide range of issues including conflict-inequality, inter-linkages, poverty mapping, and the causes and consequences of inequality. It applies the latest research techniques such as regression-based decomposition, poverty decomposition and computable general equilibrium models.

The authors examine spatial disparities in countries and regions that are attracting considerable professional and political attention, including Africa, central Asia, China, Latin America, and Russia.

Containing theoretical and empirical contributions by some of the most prominent economists in the area of inequality and development studies, this study will be of interest to economists, sociologists and policy makers.

CHAIRPERSON

Anthony Shorrocks is the Director of UNU-WIDER and has previously held positions at the LSE and University of Essex. He has published widely on income and wealth distribution, inequality and poverty.

SPEAKERS

Ravi Kanbur is T.H. Lee Professor of World Affairs, International Professor of Applied Economics and Management, and Professor of Economics at Cornell University. He was previously Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick, and Chief Economist for Africa at the World Bank. He is the Co-Director of the WIDER study on Spatial Disparities.

Anthony J. Venables is chief economist in the UK Department for International Development and professor of international economics at the London School of Economics. He also directs the globalization programme at the LSE Centre for Economic Performance and is a research fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research. He is co-director of the WIDER study on Spatial Disparities.

DISCUSSANT

Alan Winters is the Director of the Development Research Group of the World Bank, has worked previously in the Bank as Division Chief and Research Manager (1994-99) and Economist (1983-85). He is on leave from the University of Sussex where he is Professor of Economics. He is a Research Fellow and former Programme Director of the CEPR and has worked in the Universities of Cambridge, Bristol, Wales and Birmingham.

Admission is free; to register in advance please contact:

The Department for International Development (DFID)
1 Palace Street, London SW1E 5HE
E-mail: SJ-Williams(at)dfid.gov.uk

http://www.dfid.gov.uk

For more information on the event and interviews with the speakers, please contact:
Yasser Mehmood
DFID Press Office
00 44 (0)20 7023 0620
Y-Mehmood(at)dfid.gov.uk

The presentations are based on the following publications:

Spatial Issues in Africa Edited by Ravi Kanbur and Anthony Venables
Journal of African Economies
Volume 12 Number 4 (December 2003)
Oxford University Press

pb3.pdf (328.36 kilobytes)