Obidovich, Abdullayev Jamshid (2026) Intra-Regional Disparities in Service Sector Development: District-Level Evidence from Samarkand Region, Uzbekistan (2010–2024). American Journal of Economics and Business Management, 9 (10). ISSN 2576-5973

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Abstract

The service sector has become the largest part of the economy of Samarkand Region, Uzbekistan, rising from 39.3% of gross value added in 2021 to 46.8% in January–September 2025. Whether this shift is spreading evenly across the region's territories has not been examined. Using official data on per capita service output for two cities and fourteen rural districts over 2010–2024, corrected for a territorial reallocation in 2019 and an informal-economy revision in 2024, this paper applies σ-convergence, β-convergence, a two-group Theil decomposition and a Lerman–Yitzhaki decomposition of the Gini index by service type. Rural districts converged during 2010–2018, with a half-life of 14–20 years. After 2019 the pattern reversed. The coefficient of variation rose from 0.64 to 0.76, the Theil index from 0.223 to 0.285, and the cross-sectional β coefficient turned positive (+0.023, p < 0.001). Almost all of the increase came from the widening gap between the two cities and the rural districts; among rural districts there was no significant β-convergence and dispersion rose only slightly. Samarkand city, with 13.9% of the population, produced 43.7% of territorially allocated service output in 2024 and 84.5% of education, 70.4% of health and 52.9% of financial services. Education, accommodation and food, finance and health services widen the per capita gap at the margin, while transport, trade, information and communication, and personal services narrow it. The results support spatially targeted policies for higher-order services and reveal gaps in district-level service statistics.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	service sector, regional disparities, sigma convergence, beta convergence, Theil index, Gini decomposition, Samarkand, Uzbekistan
Subjects:	H Social Sciences
Depositing User:	admin eprints
Date Deposited:	31 Oct 2026 11:24
Last Modified:	31 Oct 2026 11:24
URI:	http://eprints.umsida.ac.id/id/eprint/17363

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