A Spatial Decomposition of Income Inequality in Chile

Paredes, D., Iturra, V. and Lufin, M. A spatial decomposition of income inequality in Chile, Regional Studies. Previous literature identifies the high and persistent income inequality of Chile, but the geographic heterogeneity of the inequality is still unexplored. This lack of discussion encourages spatially blind policy that ignores the interaction between individual and spatial inequality. To evaluate its magnitude, a spatial decomposition at the regional, provincial and county levels is proposed. The decomposition indicates that between 1992 and 2009, 21% of the total inequality is attributable to geographical scale. The results show that spatial inequality is a relevant magnitude to be considered by policy-makers.