Social and Economic Convergence Across Brazilian States Between 1990 and 2010

The present paper analyzes the convergence in economic and social terms across Brazilian states from 1990 to 2010. We argue that a more ample perspective is enlightening because income convergence does not necessarily go hand in hand with social convergence and income is not the only relevant aspect of well-being. Social convergence is captured by selected indicators, such as years of study, life expectancy at birth and the absence of crime. Using OLS, fixed effects and spatial dependence models, we find that GDP per capita has the highest dispersion across states and its absolute convergence is relatively slow. Social conditions, in contrast, have become considerably more equal and seem to converge towards a unique steady state at half-lives between 8 and 12 years. Absence of crime shows a peculiar behavior and a non-linear inconclusive convergence path.