Intercountry income inequality 1960- 1990: world levels and decomposition between and within geographical clusters and regions

This paper analyses the Issue of per capita Income convergence and world level of intercountry income inequality within a geographical context. The evolution of the world level of intercountry income inequality and its decomposition between and within geographical clusters and regions between 1960 and 1990 are analysed by applying the income-weighted entropy measure into a new dataset of international comparisons of output and prices adjusted for purchasing power parity (PWT 5.5, 1993). The computation reveals that, in general, the period can be divided into three distinct phases of strong divergence (1960-1968 ), slow convergence (1969-1983) and stagnation (1984- 1990).