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This paper explores the convergence of public expenditures and revenues in the EU28 by applying the panel cluster convergence methodology to updated quarterly data for the period 2002–2019. In order to explore whether the recent debt crisis in EU has affected the harmonisation path, the paper, for the first time, considers both the whole period 2002–2019 and two equally‐sized sub‐periods, that is, 2002–2009 and 2012–2019, which correspond to pre‐and post‐debt‐crisis years. The issue is important for the debate on fiscal harmonisation in Europe, given that the EU's debt crisis has generated many asymmetries across the member states, whilst the design of effective public policies remains a key tool for achieving higher economic growth. Overall, our results provide evidence of divergence, especially for public expenditures since the European debt crisis, which suggests that in the future further efforts towards a stronger harmonisation path will be required by policymakers in EU member states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The creation of European Union (EU) was driven by the motivation to create a European Common Market that encourages free trade. As a result of Maastricht treaty of 1993, EU saw the biggest enlargement to date, from initial six founding members to now 28‐member countries comprising the union. The lower income countries have joined the EU with the hope to bridge the income gap between them and the higher income countries of the union. It has been observed in many studies that intra‐EU income convergence has happened. This article further confirms this finding. For income convergence to be sustainable, the lower income countries must also experience convergence in economic structures. Therefore, in this paper we try to assess how intra‐EU convergence in incomes is linked to intra‐EU convergence in economic structures. We observed income convergence in the EU has been mainly due to convergence in income shares of the industrial and services sector. The main contribution of this article is to examine the role of trade in income convergence via its impact on structural transformation of the EU. Using the augmented Chenery‐Syrquin model in a panel data framework, we have found that trade openness determines the sectoral shares of industry and services in income across the countries. We have also demonstrated that both the higher and lower income countries within the EU have gained in the share of industrial sector due to trade, although the gain is lesser for the lower income countries as compared to the gain in share of industries of the high‐income countries in the EU. However, structural convergence has not been fully achieved because the lower income countries of the EU are yet to gain from trade in terms of enhancing their income shares of services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Regional Science Policy & Practice is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In times of crisis, the study of employment is of vital importance, especially that generated by cooperatives, which show great resilience. This paper analyzes the evolution of employment created by cooperatives in the different Spanish regions in relation to total employment between 1999 and 2019 with a pioneering approach. We analyze the existence of convergence clubs among the Spanish regions using the methodology developed by Phillips and Sul (2007, 2009). The results show the existence of four clubs that include the regions that converge in relative terms of cooperative employment over the 20 years analyzed. The lack of homogeneity in the behavior of employment in cooperatives in the different Spanish regions is demonstrated, with certain divergences among regions. These divergences make it difficult to establish a model of cooperative employment for the whole of Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic convergence has long been a declared objective of the EU and has been considered the fundamental mechanism for achieving socioeconomic cohesion. Even so, the empirical literature finds a lack of real convergence as geographical clusters have emerged. In this paper, we contribute to the literature on income convergence in the EU by analysing convergence in real disposable income across European countries. In contrast to the previous results on real convergence in the EU, we find that most of the countries are converging to the same equilibrium level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the scanty and inadequate studies on Serbia's growth performance before the First World War, this paper presents production‐side GDP estimates for Serbia for six years between 1867 and 1910. It probes into the growth dynamics, assessing convergence with the more developed countries of north‐western Europe, as well as progress towards achieving modern economic growth. Although the economy showed some dynamism in terms of overall GDP, per capita GDP in pre‐First World War Serbia grew by only 0.28 per cent per annum, as much of the overall GDP growth was eroded by rapid population growth. Far from converging with north‐western Europe, Serbia continued to fall behind. Sluggish structural transformation and slow income per capita growth suggest that Serbia's transition to modern economic growth was in its infancy. Growth in the dominant agricultural sector was extensive, driven by expanding arable land and population growth. Land was affordable and easy to obtain; hence, peasants invested little in new technologies. Meanwhile, the modern industrial and service sectors were below a threshold that could sustain rapid growth. Nevertheless, this study also highlights the rapid expansion of a small modern sector and export diversification that reflected emergent 'green shoots' in 1905–10. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the debate on the role of innovation and intellectual property rights (IPRs) in catch‐up policies in developing countries (DCs). We survey the literature on four key points. First, we review the neoclassical and evolutionary theoretical foundations of innovation and catch‐up. Second, we examine why some countries lag behind, in particular in terms of path dependency and multiplicity of convergence dynamics. From this follows the question of how to foster innovation in DCs. We examine the issues of IPRs protection in a third point and industrial policies in a fourth point. Strengthening IPRs protection is often recommended by international institutions. However, the related literature shows that their impact is strongly non‐linear, as the optimal level for DCs is initially low, then increases as the countries develop. This result is robust to a wide range of models and methods. Finally, the literature reveals that industrial policies can be crucial in fostering innovation in DCs, even though their implementation faces serious challenges, in particular the appropriate targeting of industrial policies, and rent‐seeking behaviours in a deteriorated institutional environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes environmental convergence and its determinants. We construct our analysis in a bilateral setting and hypothesize that, through foreign direct investment (FDI), one or more investor countries could impact the environmental performance of their hosts, leading thus to a possible environmental convergence between home and host economies. To do this, we construct an original database on bilateral FDI encompassing 128 countries for the period 2000-2012. Our results suggest that, in general, FDI does not directly impact environmental convergence, except for the case of FDI originating from major investor countries. Under specific conditions, FDI can be expected to influence environmental convergence along with other variables such as GDP per capita, industrial development, geographical proximity, or cultural and historical ties. Overall, these effects may vary depending on the type of partnership considered (North-North, North-South, South-North, and South-South). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The measurement of inequality and its determinants are major tasks within the economic literature. The main objectives of this paper are to identify patterns of convergence in the income inequality in European Union countries and to investigate the factors behind the formation of convergence clubs. For those purposes and considering the Gini index during the period 2007–2018, the club convergence approach and an ordered logit model are employed. The results show four clubs and four divergent countries. In addition, the analysis identifies certain factors, such as economic openness, public intervention and education, as the main drivers of inequality reduction. Finally, the results from the club convergence analysis for an alternative inequality measure, specifically the ratio 80:20, are similar to those achieved in the case of the Gini index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Economics is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study tests for convergence in economic freedom across the 50 U.S. states from 1981 to 2019. In particular, we test for stochastic convergence in overall economic freedom using unit root tests that account for structural breaks and bounded processes, two sources of parameter instability. We find limited evidence of stochastic convergence. Further analysis of relative (club) convergence and weak σ‐convergence rejects the presence of overall convergence in the panel of the U.S. states, but the emergence of two convergence clubs with respect to state‐level economic freedom. The logit analysis of the determinants of the convergence clubs reveals that more prosperous states and states with a higher initial level of economic freedom have a higher probability of being in the club with more economic freedom. However, more racially diverse states have a lower probability of being in the club with more economic freedom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the 2008 financial crisis and rising competitive pressures from emerging markets, EU industrial policy has made a major comeback. One of the flagship policies is Smart Specialisation, which is located at the intersection of industrial and cohesion policy, and which serves the twin purpose of catalysing the transition of manufacturing sectors to innovative Industry 4.0‐type technologies, as well as inducing social and territorial cohesion and upward economic convergence. Employing a critical political economy perspective that accounts for the interplay between state regulation and capitalism's general dynamic of uneven and combined development, the article argues that Smart Specialisation is unlikely to lead to the proclaimed and much‐needed economic intra‐EU convergence. Although individual Smart Specialisation projects undoubtedly can lead to a technological upgrading, narrowing the gap between advanced high‐tech regions and rapidly de‐industrializing regions, or regions locked into labour‐intensive, low value‐added and less knowledge‐intensive production, remains a pipedream. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study revisits the issue of long‐term price convergence of rice export prices for India, Pakistan, Thailand, Uruguay, the United States, and Vietnam using a two‐stage pairwise unit root testing approach. To deduce evidence or lack of proof of convergence in price series, we also examine convergence using sigma and beta convergence specified in both unconditional and conditional frameworks. The methodology used is driven by the need to address three key concerns: (i) the likelihood of finding stationary price differentials, (ii) the magnitude of these differentials, and (iii) their speed of adjustment. To evaluate these concerns, we use monthly data for 18 price series drawn from these six countries from September 2011 to February 2021. The evidence points to a lack of international convergence. This gives rise to the possibility that a shield from a general downward export price trend is already in place for some exporters. Furthermore, we find that the likelihood of convergence is greater between pairs of price series that are characterized as high quality or having the same country of origin or having similar market share. Evidence also suggests that a converged pairing is more likely to have a smaller price differential if both price series are for low‐quality rice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines whether convergence in institutional quality distinguished by economic and political dimensions of institutions has occurred across countries. The study uses data from 81 countries over the period of 1985 to 2018. The study tests the convergence hypothesis by using three different measures of institutional quality capturing political and economic dimensions of institutions. The empirical results show that convergence in economic institutional quality has occurred and most countries with weak economic institutions have a higher rate of change compared with countries with strong economic institutions. In contrast, for political institutions, the convergence process is short‐lived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Much confusion exists about the underachievement of gifted students due to significant variations in how the phenomenon has been identified. From a review of the literature, five methods were found to be commonly used to identify gifted underachievement. Aims: The purpose of the study was to assess the equivalence of the commonly used methods to identify gifted underachievement, and to determine which of these methods may be optimal. Sample: Data were collected from a school in Sydney, Australia. Method: Three measures of convergence (i.e., difference in proportions, phi association, and kappa agreement) were used to assess the equivalence of the identification methods, while latent class analysis was used to determine the optimal identification method. Results: The convergence evidence suggested that the commonly used identification methods may not be considered convergent, while the criterion evidence indicated that one of the five identification methods may have strong levels of criterion validity. Conclusions: A conclusion was reached that the simple difference method may be the most valid method to identify gifted underachievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Europeanization research found no general convergence towards centralized EU policy coordination, despite decentralized systems' comparatively slow and ineffective position‐taking. Does this finding hold against the threat, urgency, and uncertainty exerted by recent years' polycrisis? We posit that decentralized systems indeed persist, albeit in a three‐step reactive sequence in which situational centralization during crises dialectically reinforces decentralization in the long run. First, the prime minister's office harnesses a crisis to acquire hierarchical control of position‐taking. Second, to exploit the deep expertise of the bureaucracy and maximize its bargaining power on the EU‐level, it co‐opts a lead ministry. Third, due to the institutional underpinnings of the decentralized system, the lead ministry, rather than the prime minister's office, eventually retains the administrative capacities created in crisis. We illustrate this causal mechanism in a comparison of the German government's EU policy coordination during the Eurozone and Schengen crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates how fiscal transfers affect economic convergence across Chinese provinces. Using the data of 26 provinces over 1995–2016, we find that fiscal transfers promote an 'immiserising convergence' resulting from a decline in growth in rich provinces. Specifically, general fiscal transfers play an insignificant role, and special fiscal transfers facilitate the economic growth of poor provinces but impede that of rich provinces. Furthermore, the mechanism tests show that the positive effect of fiscal transfers on productive expenditures declines with higher initial real GDP per capita and becomes negative in rich provinces. To further identify causality, we conduct a difference‐in‐differences estimate by exploiting the Great Western Development Programme as a quasi‐natural experiment and employ an instrumental variable approach with ethnic diversity in 1990 as the instrument. In sum, our findings suggest that the positive growth effect of fiscal transfers in poor provinces is at the cost of sluggish growth in rich provinces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]