behindmigration, because economic opportunity, wages, and amenities are never
evenly distributed, and people tend to relocate to those places that offer the great-
est advantages. Economic geographers may analyze and explain spatial inequality
at anyscale: global, regional, national, or local.World Systems Theoryis an
attempt to identify the factors and conditions that contribute to global spatial
inequality of income and wealth. At the regional and national scales, concepts of
core and peripheryare sometimes employed to explain the presence and effects
of spatial inequality. Many countries possess an economic coreregionthat is char-
acterized by an underdevelopedhinterland, resulting in an unequal distribution of
economic development, income, and standards of living.
The spatial inequality of wealth and income are of interest because other spatial
inequalities are often connected to this specific pattern of inequality. For instance,
the spatial distribution of the quality or accessibility of health care in many coun-
tries is directly correlated with levels of personal or family income.Infant
mortality rates, longevity, and other factors influencing the quality of life are also
typically geographically associated with the spatial characteristics of monetary
income. If it is assumed that such inequality is an undesirable geographic pattern,
then a comparative, reasonably precise means of measuring such disparity is use-
ful, as countries and regions may then be evaluated relative to one another. A
common method used to accomplish this is the Gini coefficient. The Gini coeffi-
cient is a mathematical index that ranges between a hypothetical value of zero to
a maximum of one. A Gini coefficient of zero indicates a situation in which there
is complete equality, in other words all individuals or family units receive exactly
the same level of income or wealth. A coefficient of one indicates that all wealth is
concentrated with one person or household, with all others receiving nothing,
resulting in the maximum degree of inequality. Frequently, the coefficient is multi-
plied by 100 for reporting purposes, as this produces whole integers and is some-
what easier to use when making comparisons. In this system the maximum
coefficient is 100, while the minimum remains zero. In reality, for countries the
range of Gini coefficients is between 20, signifying low spatial inequality of
income, to around 70, indicating a relatively large inequality. As a general rule,
developing countries tend to have the largest Gini coefficients.
Regional spatial inequality may be influenced by a number of factors.Globali-
zationmay either exacerbate or ameliorate spatial inequality between regions,
depending on the circumstances of the regional relationship. The era of European
imperialismunquestionably increased spatial inequality between the industrial-
ized, developed countries of Europe and North America, and the colonized regions
of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Ironically, globalization may be lowering spa-
tial inequality between countries like India and China, where average incomes
have risen in recent decades, and Europe and North America, where the average
Spatial Inequality 317