Measuring Interregional Inequality and Convergence Using Compound Growth Method
Introduction
For countries with high diversity, interregional inequality has been the main concern for long time. In Indonesia, it is always one of the government main agenda throughout administrations: from Soekarno era to current Susilo Bambang Yudoyono period. A wide range of policies and programs have been launched aimed at reducing interegional imbalances. However, there is little evidence that this problem is solved, or at least an indication of narrowing interregional gap. In 2008, per capita Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) of East Kalimantan was twenty-one times greater than that of North Maluku. If oil and gas are excluded, the per capita GRDP ratio between the highest (DKI Jakarta) and the lowest (North Maluku) was 18. These figures show an increase from 2004 condition when the ratios were 18 and 16, respectively.
