Were Ukrainian regions too different to start interregional confrontation: economic, social and ecological convergence aspects?

This article deals with analysis of economic, social and ecological disparities of Ukrainian regions. Regional economic disparities are measured through the convergence concept and the article employs panel data analysis with fixed and random effects estimations. Our empirical results show the presence of economic convergence in Ukrainian regions. Initially it was found that poor regions do grow relatively faster than the rich. Moreover, the difference between poor and rich regions has been decreased 1.8 times during 1999 and 2010. In addition, it was found that the presence of ecological convergence in the Ukraine and initially ‘clean’ regions do increase pollution faster than initially ‘dirty’ regions. That is, Ukrainian regions were converging to some environmental steady state through the process of increasing pollution. Ukrainian regions were also experiencing health convergence with negative policy implications, since all regions do converge to some health levels through an increase in morbidity. The economic growth of Ukrainian regions was achieved through sacrificing environmental situations and increased morbidity. Therefore, there were no clear economic reasons to start interregional confrontation that has taken place in the Ukraine, since all regions were on the same track of development. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]