| Description: |
An extended conceptual and analytical framework is elaborated where proximity in time as one dimension of a multidimentional concept of disparity is used as a tool to integrate space and time in comparative analysis. Time distance measures the difference in time (number of years) when two compared units achieve a given level of the indicator. Time distance emphasizes a novel perspective of disparity between the compared units, and time is a universal unit of measurement comparable between countries, levels and units of comparison. It complements rather than substitutes for conventional measures, at the conceptual level the overall degree of disparity is viewed upon as a weighted combination of static and dynamic dimensions of disparity. The interrelationships between efficiency, growth, disparity and equity are in this conceptual framework more pronounced than in the conventional analysis. The empirical analysis of regional disparities in the former Yugoslavia confirms the theoretical proposition that static and dynamic analysis can lead to very different analytical and policy conclusions.
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