Throwing public investment into poorer towns and cities may be politically advantageous, but the economic benefits of it will be limited. A better approach would be to concentrate investment in areas that have the potential to become centers of high productivity, such as large suburban cities.
SEOUL—Discussions about economic inequality usually focus on the disparity between countries or the divide between rich and poor households within the country. But greater attention is now being paid to domestic regional differences, whether between the capital and the rest of the country (as in South Korea and England), between northern and southern regions (as in Italy), or between coastal cities and inland regions (as in China and the United States).
SEOUL—Discussions about economic inequality usually focus on the disparity between countries or the divide between rich and poor households within the country. But greater attention is now being paid to domestic regional differences, whether between the capital and the rest of the country (as in South Korea and England), between northern and southern regions (as in Italy), or between coastal cities and inland regions (as in China and the United States).