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Copyright of Revista de Economía (Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán) is the property of Universidad Autonoma de Yucatan, Facultad de Economia 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.)

Copyright of Journal of Latin American Studies is the property of Cambridge University Press 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 paper analyzes the convergence hypothesis and the impact of social policy on the economic growth of the six largest countries in Latin America between 1980 and 2010. Results suggest that social public policies have positively influenced growth in these economies. Particularly, there are non-observed variables (fixed effects) that positively affect the economic growth in Venezuela and Chile; however, there are other non-observed variables that may be negatively affecting growth in Brazil and Mexico. Regarding the convergence hypothesis, results reveal that the speed of convergence diminishes as real income rises, implying that these countries might be converging to their stable states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the hypothesis of regional convergence in Latin America through a non-linear growth model for the time period 1950-2010. The methodology combines three approaches: the threshold autoregressive model (tar), panel data unit root tests and calculating critical values with a bootstrapping simulation. The results of the tests applied to the per capita gross domestic product (gdp) of two groups of countries in Latin America (the wealthiest and then all nations in the region) suggest that the linear model is superior to the non-linear model and show no evidence of partial or absolute convergence. We did not identify a group of countries in the region with higher per capita income that would behave as a leading economy. Our results cast doubt on other studies conducted with linear tests that did find conditional convergence in some countries in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]