Do we need the mind the gap in Brazil? Evolution of regional wage gap

We estimate mincerian equations for the metropolitan regions of Brazil, for each year in the period 1992-2005. With the estimates, we followed Duranton & Monastiriotis (2002) methodology for analysing the evolution of regional wage gap among these regions in Brazil. Regional differences – measured as the difference in the intercept term in these equations, show a tendency to decline, since the intercept terms tend to cluster around the mean. The returns for gender and the wage gap for low qualified occupations tend to decline sharper in regions where they were higher, also implying a convergence effect. The returns for the human capital variables decrease similarly everywhere, implying persistence of regional differences in wage. The returns for race show a divergence pattern. The returns for the informal sector and for migration do not exhibit trend. Key-words: wages, regional inequality, mincerian equation