Regional Convergence in Colombia in the Twenty-First Century

The studies aiming to answer whether wealthier areas in Colombia are growing slower than poorer areas have yielded mixed results. This chapter updates such estimates of unconditional beta convergence of the GDP per capita for the first years of the twenty-first century, when substantial structural changes occurred. Furthermore, it decomposes the beta by sectoral changes throughout the period while estimating it with a moving starting year. A convergence analysis of additional social and economic indicators supplements this assessment. The results suggest an increasing, yet non-significant, beta, indicating that Colombia is moving from a subtle convergence to a more frequent period of divergence.