Trends in Mediterranean inequalities 1950-2015

Abstract

This article is aimed at analysing the trends of economic, social and institutional inequality among the Mediterranean countries in the period 1950- 2015. After the examination of the inequalities in GDP per capita among and within nations, we present a Human Development Index (HDI) that includes a measure of democratic achievements. Main result is that inequalities in income, after the rise from the 1950s onwards, declined from the start of the twenty-first century. Inequalities in HDI, instead, constantly diminished in the period under examination, while a process of democratization occurred. On the whole, despite the convergence among Mediterranean countries, economic inequalities are much deeper than those in social indicators.

Keywords

• inequality
• human development
• political regimes
• mediterranean economies