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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.)

The Balkan countries undergoing the transition must advance their economies to be more competitive. The aim of this paper is to analyse economic growth with a primary focus on the analysis of economic convergence in the Balkan region in the period of 1997-2020. The research analyses the following Balkan economies: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, and Slovenia. This study applies Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a measure of economic growth and is based on the neoclassical economic growth model: the Solow's convergence concept. The results show that the Balkan countries experienced economic convergence with a speed of 1.82% in the cross-sectional model and 7.87% in the panel data model. It means that the initially less developed economies noted higher economic growth than those richer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates the impact of public investment on regional economic growth and convergence at the NUTS 3 level in Greece. Using a new database of public expenditure per region for the period 1978-2007, it proposes a model which captures not just the impact of public investment in Greek prefectures, but also the spillover effects related to the existence of externalities from neighbouring regions. The results point to a positive long-run impact of public investment per capita on regional economic growth - but not on convergence - which also generates considerable spillover effects. However, the returns vary according to different types of public investment, with education and infrastructure spillovers having the highest impact. In general, public investment externalities seem to be more relevant for regional growth than direct public investment in each region. Finally, the impact of different types of public investment in Greece is mediated by politics and political factors, but the effect of politics disappears once we control for political-period-specific spatial-invariant variables. Resumen Este artículo estima el impacto de la inversión pública en el crecimiento económico regional y la convergencia a nivel NUTS 3 en Grecia. Haciendo uso de una nueva base de datos de gasto público por región para el periodo 1978-2007, se propone un modelo que identifica no solamente el impacto de la inversión pública en las prefecturas griegas, sino también los efectos de spillover relacionados con la existencia de externalidades procedentes de regiones vecinas. Los resultados apuntan a un impacto positivo a largo plazo de la inversión pública per cápita en el crecimiento económico regional - pero no en la convergencia - el cual genera unos efectos de spillover considerables. Sin embargo, los retornos varían de acuerdo con los diferentes tipos de inversión pública, siendo la educación y los spillovers de infraestructura los de mayor impacto. En general, las externalidades de inversión pública parecen tener una mayor relevancia para el crecimiento regional que la inversión pública directa en cada región. Para terminar, el impacto de los diferentes tipos de inversión pública en Grecia se ve influido por sus políticas y otros factores políticos, pero el efecto de las políticas desaparece una vez que se controlan las variables espacialmente-invariantes de tipo político ligadas a un periodo específico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to investigate the role of various knowledge indicators, such as research and development, information and communication technologies and trade, in the economic growth and convergence performance of 17 Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries and 17 Latin American countries (LACs) during the 1980-2014 period, by utilizing dynamic panel data techniques like the pooled mean group estimation method. Our results indicate that knowledge variables seem to play an important role in the economic growth performances of both regions and, overall, there is a significant convergence among the countries in MENA and LACs. Nevertheless, our main finding is that the impact of the knowledge indicator in Latin American countries is weaker compared to the MENA region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines productivity growth across NUTS 2-regions in the EU during the period in which the Lisbon Strategy was rolled out (period 2000-2011). A robust nonparametric production frontier estimation technique is used to estimate and decompose regional productivity growth. Results show that in spite of the increased focus on improving competitiveness and productivity in European programs such as the Lisbon Agenda, regional productivity growth has been relatively limited for the whole EU. However, behind the modest average regional growth rate, there are high interregional differences in growth rates. Results also show evidence of a limited convergence trend in the EU-region since 2000. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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.)

The aim of the paper is to analyze economic convergence of the Western Balkan countries towards the European Union member states with two types of measurement methodology, sigma and beta convergence. Sigma convergence measures the dispersion of real per capita GDP among the countries and beta convergence is based on the neoclassical growth theory. The main hypothesis of the paper is that the recent financial crisis has negatively affected the convergence process of the Western Balkan countries towards the twenty-eight member states of the European Union (EU-28). The relationship between selected macroeconomic variables and the rate of per capita GDP growth are econometrically tested. Sigma and beta convergence are estimated for the period 2004-2013 and two sub-periods: 2004-2008 and 2009-2013. The empirical findings support the hypothesis of economic convergence. The negative effects of the crisis on per capita GDP growth are confirmed, resulting in a slower convergence process. Dissimilarities between the growth patterns of the analyzed groups show the considerable heterogeneity of growth, i.e. the convergence clubs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Regional Studies is the property of Routledge 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.)

Research background: The processes of economic convergence observed in many developing countries are characterized by reduction of economic differences on the cross-country level, which are accompanied by growing internal economic inequalities. This may stem from the fact that in the catching-up countries, a more dynamic growth pattern is observed in the economically strongest regions, which is initially reflected in spatial polarization and increasing regional inequalities. However, just as the countries reach higher levels of development, the diffusion of growth-inducing impulses to less-developed areas should lead to the spatial equalizing of the development levels and reducing regional inequalities. Purpose of the article: The aim of the paper is to determine the relationship between the level of economic growth and observed economic inequalities in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. The theoretical framework adopted to describe and explain those relations is the so-called Williamson's hypothesis in which the relationship between the scale of regional inequalities and economic growth is illustrated by a curve shaped like an inverted U. Methods: The research procedure was intended to verify Williamson's hypothesis by estimating parabolic econometric models. Indicators of economic growth along with measure of regional inequalities (Williamson's coefficient of variation) were used in the regression modeling. The research period spanned the years 1995-2014. Findings & Value added: In the light of the study of CEE countries, it was possible to observe both convergence symptoms as well as divergence tendencies. It can be thus stated that the analyzed CEE countries followed a similar path to the one observed earlier by Williamson in other developing countries. However, the analyses conducted by the authors at the national and regional levels of CEE countries were equivocal and did not fully support the theoretical assumptions of Williamson's hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new technique based on an iterated spatially weighted regression procedure to verify the presence of economic growth heterogeneities in EU regions in the period 1981-2009. The approach extends a procedure originally proposed in the field of image analysis based on the assumption of local homogeneity of the signal. The presence of the heterogeneity is a criterion to divide the sample of observations (i.e. regions) into smaller homogeneous groups. Our results highlight the presence in the EU regions of five different clubs with different growth paths within each subgroup. Spatial dependence is also considered in the definition of the economic convergence model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the effects of political decentralisation on economic growth in Spain, an issue that has generated heated debates in recent decades. Our analysis of the last three and a half decades, a period characterised by the weak narrowing of the income per capita gap within regions, does not offer conclusive results on convergence and points to the importance of alternative factors. Several proxies were used to capture the decentralisation process. We also studied some potential interactions between decentralisation and other variables. All in all, our empirical evidence shows robustly that transferring more responsibilities to subnational governments does not significantly affect growth in any sense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper assesses the relevance of the EU Macroeconomic Imbalances Procedure scoreboard for the EU candidate countries. The calculation of the 14 indicators for a nine years period proves the recent economic crisis helped resolve some of the imbalances in the EU candidate countries but on the back of the slowing down the economic growth and convergence. The paper argues that MIP scoreboard fails to capture the specifics of economic developments of the caching up economies and cannot be used as a tool for assessing their readiness to join the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to discuss the role of Markovian transitions related to the economic convergence among countries. Thus, the paper aims to develop an overview of several classical approaches, including an analysis of fallacies exposed through the literature. Design/methodology/approach - The number of modes in the distribution of the RGDPL for 100 countries in the period from 1986 to 2000 is calculated. Next, the results obtained from the relevant transition matrices are discussed and the existence of twin peaks in the distribution of income is analyzed. Finally, the adequacy of both Markovian and (time) homogeneity hypotheses in connection with the stochastic process that underlies income distribution is studied. Findings - The results across the period 1986-2000 show the evolution of countries into convergence clubs, instead of the existence of economic convergence. Originality/value - The paper discusses two important issues on the convergence hypothesis. First, the discretization process really matters. If quartiles or quintiles are used the ergodic distribution does not show twin peaks because the process shows an equiprobabilistic ergodic (stationary) distribution in the long term. Second, the twin peaks results need a Markov (time) homogeneous chain as a model for the underlying income process, and then Chapman-Kolmogorov's equation must be satisfied. However, the paper finds empirical evidences of failure in such an argument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper formulates a growth model to study the interlinkages among quality of schooling, human capital and technical progress of a stylised developing economy such as India. The simulation results reveal that under the technology regimes of innovation and imitation, the quality of schooling triggers a child quantity–quality trade-off wherein parents invest in educating their children and bear lesser number of children when schooling quality exceeds an endogenously determined threshold. Consequently, the stylised economy reaches a self-sustaining growth path under both the regimes by investing in human capital of the young generation in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Spatial Economic Analysis is the property of Routledge 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 surveys the convergence literature. It begins by laying out different definitions of convergence and by showing the link between the convergence issue and the growth theory debate. The paper then follows the convergence research conducted along four different approaches, namely the cross-section, panel, time-series, and distribution approaches. The paper shows the association of these methodological approaches with various definitions of convergence and highlights the connections among the convergence results. It shows that, despite some impressions to the contrary, there is considerable agreement among the results. Although the convergence research might not have solved the growth debate entirely, it has helped both the neoclassical and the new growth theories to adapt and evolve. The research on convergence has established new stylized facts regarding cross-country growth regularities. It has brought to fore the existence of large technological and institutional differences across countries and has given rise to new methodologies for quantifying and analyzing these differences. This is providing a new information base for analysis of technological and institutional diffusion and for further development of growth theory in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term "middle-income trap" has entered common parlance in the development policy community, despite the lack of a precise definition. This paper discusses in more detail the definitional issues associated with the term. It also provides evidence on whether the growth performance of middle-income countries (MICs) has been different from other income categories, including historical transition phases in the inter-country distribution of income. A transition matrix analysis and an exploration of cross-country growth patterns provide little support for the existence of a middle-income trap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims at contributing to the debate on conditional convergence across Chinese provinces by using the most recent techniques of dynamics panel data models. The analysis covers twenty-nine Chinese provinces from 1995 to 2009 and is based on the estimation of growth equations using system GMM estimator. Three main results can be drawn from our empirical investigations. First, investment in physical capital and education have played an important role in promoting economic growth. Second, the hypothesis of conditional convergence is verified over the period 1995-2009. Third, Chinese provinces have converged more quickly over their steady-state level during the period 2004-2009. Finally, we suggest that the acceleration of the speed of conditional convergence in the recent years may be a consequence of the implementation of regional development programs during the 2000s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We test for economic convergence in GDP per capita and consumption per capita within two distinct sets of countries: those with significant (and plausibly exogenous) fossil fuel (FF) endowments and those without such endowments. Among countries with FF endowments, we find evidence of both absolute and conditional convergence across both macroeconomic dimensions, as indicated by standard β- and σ-convergence tests. By contrast, we do not find robust evidence of convergence among countries without FF endowments. This pattern—convergence among FF-endowed and non-convergence among non-endowed countries—is robust to changes in the sample period, controlling for potential resource curse effects, and is largely consistent across growth components. We discuss the implications for economic development and comment on its implications for global decarbonization policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With initial low levels of income per capita, a declining population and relatively modest economic growth rates, there are little prospects of diminishing the gap between Romania and the EU countries. Nevertheless, in the long term, convergence is expected. The question then arises, "What are the drivers and their likely potential to boost economic growth and the catching-up process?". This paper presents shortly the theoretical background of economic convergence and then focuses on the assessment of possible paths of Romania's convergence towards the EU. Based on the existing long-term macroeconomic projections and the assessment of the possible future developments of the drivers of economic growth, we have built three scenarios of economic convergence, highlighting the possible timespan of convergence. We have employed growth accounting methods to decompose output growth rate into production factors' contributions (capital and labour) and total factor productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The authors considered three regional trading agreements (RTAs): European Union (EU-25), ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), and South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) to test the hypothesis that poor members within a RTA catch rich members and thereby follow the path of income convergence. Of particular interest is to test whether partial openness (i.e. formation of RTAs) or openness or political conditions are conducive to economic growth among the member countries of RTAs. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The authors used pooled datasets from three different RTAs, namely the EU-25, the AFTA, and the SAFTA. Taking five years average for all variables, starting from 1961 to 1965 and extending to 2001-2005, the authors tested the hypothesis that the growth rate of per capita GDP is negatively related to the initial level of per capita GDP. Constructing a dynamic behavioral equation and forming the reduced form equation, the authors calculated the s-convergence, and both conditional and unconditional convergence. Findings – The authors found that both the EU-25 and the AFTA exhibit s-convergence, and both conditional and unconditional convergence, while the reverse evidence was observed in the case of the SAFTA. However, the speed of convergence of the AFTA was found to be much higher than that of the EU-25. Originality/value – Formation of RTA by countries should be considered as an essential condition to achieve sustained economic growth. In addition, political rights, trade openness, and more importantly benevolence of the member countries within the RTA must be shown to sustain economic growth and convergence; otherwise with the passage of time, divergence among the RTA members will be evident. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existent studies on Vietnamese provinces tend to assume that province-specific growth is independent of that in its neighbours. However, many studies analysing regional economic growth in China, Brazil and Mexico report the existence of spatial spill-over effects. This paper investigates whether this is the case for 60 Vietnamese provinces for the time-period 1999-2010, using a system-GMM estimator and a Solow growth model augmented with human and physical capital and spatial-lag covariates. We report that spatial dependence is a significant determinant of growth and conditional convergence in Vietnamese provinces. We also demonstrate that the rate of convergence decreases as the distance between neighbouring provinces increases. Given these findings, we recommend testing for spatial dependence in growth models for Vietnam and beyond to avoid omitted variable bias and inform evidence-based regional policies that take account of spatial externalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews catch-up growth in various parts of the world, especially in the twentieth century, with a particular focus on what this implies for the Global South. In 1950, US per capita national income, adjusted for purchasing power, was nearly five times the world average. Since then, Western Europe and Japan have closed their per capita income gaps with the USA. East Asia, South Asia and some other developing countries have also started to close their gaps with the West in recent decades. Thus, after well over a century of growing international economic disparities or divergence, the world has witnessed an era of uneven catching up with the North in parts of the South since the mid-twentieth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theoretical background: The concept of the economic convergence process is one of the conclusions of neoclassical growth models, especially the Solow–Swan model. According to it, it is possible to catch up with countries with a lower level of economic development to the economic level of developed countries and to finally equalize the economies of countries. However, endogenous economic theories have indicated that economic convergence is not the only realistic scenario of economic development in the modern economy. Purpose of the article: The aim of the research is to determine the degree of beta and sigma economic convergence of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe to the EU-12 in the years 2004–2021. Research methods: Descriptive statistics and regression analysis were used in the research. The regression analysis was based on a beta and sigma convergence study. The first one was aimed at checking whether less developed countries are characterized by a faster rate of economic growth than more developed states, while sigma convergence made it possible to check whether dispersion in the level of socio-economic development in selected countries was levelled in the years 2004–2021. Main findings: According to the results of the research, it is possible to confirm the existence of beta convergence of the CEE countries compared to the EU-12 in terms of economic prosperity, taking into account the average wealth of citizens (GDP per capita). The economic measure, which is key in the study of economic convergence, is the basis for stating that in the years 2004–2021, there was a process of convergence between the groups of the surveyed EU countries. On the other hand, no reduction in the economic differentiation of the countries studied was observed based on the sigma convergence study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last years a central issue in regional economic growth debate is represented by the convergence problem. Many empirical economists have noticed that per-worker GDP of poor regions tend to converge to those of richer regions. However more recently it has been observed that the economic convergence might not be achieved if, in the empirical analysis, we consider the entire data set as one sample. The phenomenon should be analyzed considering regions as belonging to different sub-samples with quite similar economy. Many authors refer to this hypothesis as economic convergence clubs. The definition of these homogeneous groups represents a crucial issue in many regional economic growth studies. The aim of this paper is to propose a method for the identification of convergence clubs for the European regions at NUTS 2 level. The econometric specification used is based on the classical, and spatial augmented version of the conditional β-convergence model. Two different optimization algorithms for the identification of convergence clubs are proposed and compared: Simulated Annealing and Iterated Conditional Modes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the theoretical framework of the Solow growth model, this paper employs a dynamic panel data approach to examine the impact of openness on growth and convergence in labor productivity in the Chinese provinces during the period 1984-2008. The study finds that regional openness has a significantly positive effect on regional growth in labor productivity in the Chinese provinces. When regional heterogeneity and regional openness are accounted for, the study finds fast conditional convergence in labor productivity across the Chinese provinces. As a byproduct, this study also estimates the structural parameters of the aggregate production function in the case of China. In sum, the major findings of this study lend strong support to the claim that openness promotes growth of labor productivity in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an historical overview of both the evolution of the economic performance of the developing world and the evolution of economic thought on development policy. The twentieth century was broadly characterized by divergence between high-income countries and the developing world, with only a limited number (less than 10% of the economies in the world) managing to progress out of lower or middle-income status to high-income status. The last decade witnessed a sharp reversal from a pattern of divergence to convergence – particularly for a set of large middle-income countries. The latter phenomenon was also driven by increasing economic ties among developing countries and, on the intellectual scale, increased knowledge generation and sharing among the developing countries. Re-thinking development policy implies confronting these realities: twentieth century economic divergence, the experience of the handful of success stories, and the recent rise of the multi-polar growth world. This paper provides descriptive data and a literature survey to document these trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schumpeterian growth theory stresses the role of structural change in long run growth. Countries which increase the share of technology-intensive sectors in their economic structures benefit more from technological learning and innovation. In addition, they are more able to respond to changes in the international markets and to compete in sectors whose demand grows at higher rates. The paper compares Brazil (and to a lesser extent the CIBS group of countries) from the point of view of the direction and intensity of structural change. It is suggested that structural change has been relatively weak in Brazil and that this has been associated with a less dynamic growth performance since the 1980s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compare a set of econometric studies that measure the effect of net internal migration in neoclassical models of long-run real income convergence and derive 67 comparable effect sizes. The precision-weighted estimate of beta convergence is about 2.7 per cent. An increase of one percentage point in the net migration rate of a region increases the per capita income growth rate in that region on average by about 0.1 percentage points. Introducing a net migration variable in a growth regression increases the estimate of beta convergence slightly. Studies that use panel models or IV estimation methods yield smaller coefficients of net migration in growth regressions, while the opposite holds for regressions controlling for high-skilled migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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 focuses on the implications for the economic analysis of growth and innovation in relation to the NSI concept being part of the evolutionary research programme. We show that the modern evolutionism associates descriptive and theoretical works following specific methodological reasons. It is then argued that the NSI concept has a particularly important place within the evolutionary research programme, because it challenges and is challenged by the new neoclassical theories of growth concerning the explanation of the convergence/divergence process among the developed economies. It is also very powerful in order to elaborate arguments for technological policies. In addition, its evaluation cannot be disconnected from its theoretical content. We illustrate why the NSI will not be helpful for the neoclassical theories of growth because the assumptions it relies on are not be accepted by these theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of socio-economic convergence is nowadays more than ever an extremely dominant topic, especially in the case of less developed countries and countries suffering stagnation, mainly due to the integration processes occurring worldwide and the determinant to achieve long-term growth in an effort to advance towards the socioeconomic sustainable level of developed economies. A key assumption towards convergence is that economies with initially lower socio-economic levels will at some point reach (in an idea case) or get very close the level of developed economies, gradually reducing the gap between the capital stock and the level of product size between countries, while the lower economic level the country has, the higher the growth rate it will go through the transition period. This suggests that the economies with lower levels of performance will grow on average at a higher rate than economies that are more efficient. It is therefore expected that the growth performance of a country will with its improvement also at some point slow down and quite realistically there can also occur a situation where the levels of development and growth of individual states economies will rather show delay. This is basically an opposite action to the concept of convergence, which is known as the divergence. The aim of our research paper is to analyze closely the concept of convergence, while pointing it is specifically characteristics and overall focusing on the significance of the issue of convergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present study is to design a bipolar model of economic growth with investment flows between two types of economies (conventionally referred to as relatively rich economies and relatively poor economies). Therefore in the following considerations it is assumed that the process of capital accumulation depends on investments undertaken in the economy. At the same time the Solow growth model takes into account only investments financed by domestic savings, whereas in the bipolar growth model also the investment flows between rich and poor economies are considered. It is assumed that both relatively rich economies are investing in the relatively poor economies and the poor economies make investments in the rich economies. The paper analyses the long-term equilibrium of the growth model, both in terms of existence of steady states of the system of differential equations and in terms of the stability of a non-trivial steady state. What is more economic characteristics of the point of the long-term equilibrium of the model are examined, model parameters are calibrated and growth paths of basic macroeconomic variables in selected variants of numerical simulations are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces new data on state-level physical capital by sector and land in the farm sector for the states of the United States from 1840 to 2000. These data are incorporated into aggregate accounting exercises with the aim of comparing cross-state results to those found in cross-country samples. Our aggregate results agree closely with the cross-country literature: input accumulation accounts for most of output growth, between three-fifths and three-quarters, but variation in the growth of TFP accounts for about three-quarters of the variation in the growth rate of output per worker. In convergence accounting, convergence of log TFP accounts for about seventy percent of the observed convergence in log output per worker. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the determinants of economic growth and 'full' income growth. Our main result is that determinants may differ or have very different impact on welfare outcomes as compared to economic outcomes. Human capital plays a bigger role in determining the former, so that policies targeting human capital might have a greater effect on the welfare of societies than one would think by looking at their impact on economic growth alone. The same goes for health institutions and a number of other factors. Initial income has a greater impact on 'full' income growth than on real income per capita growth, implying even faster convergence than previously found, after conditioning for economic, health-related, institutions-related, and geographic cross-country differences. Overall, we strongly reject the hypothesis that the coefficient estimates for the impact of our set of explanatory variables on 'full' income growth is the same as for income growth. We conclude that there exist systematic differences for the impact of a number of factors on economic versus welfare growth outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The latest Commission Convergence Report about the progress made by the Member States in fulfilling their obligations regarding the achievement of economic and monetary union highlights that Romania does not fulfil the conditions for the adoption of the euro. Furthermore, Romania is at present the subject of Council Decision on the existence of an excessive deficit. The aim of this paper is to point out the weight of Intellectual Property in achieving economic growth and, consequently, its role in decreasing the national budget deficit. Analysing the information in the field, we conclude that Intellectual Property is a crucial contributor to economic growth and competitiveness, especially in fields of technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Within the European model, the macroeconomic and cohesion policies insure a good substantiation of the sustained economic growth. The achievement of the Single Market had positive effects upon the European economy as a whole, but these benefits have not been equally distributed among states, regions and social groups. The market is the most efficient mechanism of resource allocation within the economy, but it is not the tool insuring the distribution of the registered benefits. For this reason, the mechanisms of the cohesion policy can improve the tendencies of the economic activities concentration, once the economic integration process has intensified. The economic convergence consists in the very close, even identical evolutions of one variable in two different countries or regions. In this paper, the author proposes to explain the defining elements of the European model, emphasizing the connection between the convergence process and real economic growth process. In this sense, we will present the European model of regional growth, which contributes to the achievement of a real economic convergence process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the success of endogenous growth theory, recent empirical examinations of the demography–economic growth construct established that components of demographic change can provide meaningful and clear insights into the direction and impact of demographic variation in economic growth. While theoretical justification and empirical support to the claim cannot be denied, confusions seem to have arisen whether an empirical growth construct will only be limited to demographic dynamics or the model can entertain other non-demographic variables. In a leading research, Kelley and Schmidt (1995, 2001) provided seemingly ambiguous evidence that addition of non-demographic variables can add explanatory power to the growth regression. While subsequent empirical growth models have largely followed the convention as in KS, some important considerations like the stochastic effects of demographic system on economic growth seem to be missing. This paper attempts to address the concerns by suggesting a long-memory demographic system and embedding stochastic demographic characteristics in a standard Solow–Swan model, which also forms the basis of convergence pattern. We empirically show that significant stochastic shocks exist in the demographic components which could have contributed to the growth volatility across nations. We suggest that empirical growth models should account for stochastic demographic characteristics to enable economic policy makers with correct information about the current and future state of evolution of the demography–economic system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Regional Studies is the property of Routledge 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.)

The literature on the interplay of international trade, economic growth, and income convergence across economies has proliferated in the past few decades. The present essay reviews the theoretical advancements and empirical findings in this literature. The focus will be on recent developments with a few glances at the past. The essay also describes new findings and insights into the role of international trade in global income distribution. Ideas for further research are offered throughout the essay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using cross-country panel data, this study identifies and discusses major factors contributing to China's strong growth in the past four decades. China's low initial per capita income relative to its own long-run potential, combined with sound policy factors including a high investment rate, strong human capital, high trade openness and improved institutions, enabled the economy to converge with advanced economies in terms of income level. The shift-share analysis with industry-level data shows that strong labour productivity growth in the manufacturing sector largely contributed to China's overall labour productivity growth. Although labour reallocation from agriculture to the services sector made a positive contribution to aggregate labour productivity growth, labour productivity growth in the services sector itself was negative over the 1980-2010 period. China's average potential GDP growth is predicted to decline significantly in the coming decade, to 5%-6% and fall further to 3%-4%-due to the convergence effect and structural problems-unless China substantially upgrades its institutions and policy factors and improves productivity, particularly in its services sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is there a ‘middle-income trap’? Theory suggests that the determinants of growth at low and high income levels may be different. If countries struggle to transition from growth strategies that are effective at low income levels to growth strategies that are effective at high income levels, they may stagnate at some middle-income level; this phenomenon can be thought of as a ‘middle-income trap.’ Defining income levels based on per capita gross domestic product relative to the United States, we do not find evidence for (unusual) stagnation at any particular middle-income level. However, we do find evidence that the determinants of growth at low and high income levels differ. These findings suggest a mixed conclusion: middle-income countries may need to change growth strategies in order to transition smoothly to high income growth strategies, but this can be done smoothly and does not imply the existence of a middle-income trap. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Though the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) was originally developed to model the ambient concentrations of pollutants, most subsequent applications have focused on pollution emissions. Yet, it seems more likely that economic growth could eventually reduce the concentrations of local pollutants than emissions. We examine the role of income, convergence, and time-related factors in explaining recent changes in PM 2.5 and PM 10 particulate pollution in 50 Chinese cities using new measures of ambient air quality that the Chinese government has published only since the beginning of 2013. We use a recently developed model that relates the rate of change of pollution to the growth of the economy and other factors as well as the traditional environmental Kuznets curve model. Pollution fell sharply from 2013 to 2014. We show that economic growth, convergence, and time effects all served to lower the level of pollution. The results also demonstrate the relationship between the two modeling approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development and growth are complex and tumultuous processes. Modern economic growth theories identify some key determinants of economic growth. However, the relative importance of the determinants remains unknown, and additional variables may help clarify the directions and dimensions of the interactions. The novel stream of literature on economic complexity goes beyond aggregate measures of productive inputs and considers instead a more granular and structural view of the productive possibilities of countries, i.e., their capabilities. Different endowments of capabilities are crucial ingredients in explaining differences in economic performances. In this paper we employ economic fitness, a measure of productive capabilities obtained through complex network techniques. Focusing on the combined roles of fitness and some more traditional drivers of growth—GDP per capita, capital intensity, employment ratio, life expectancy, human capital and total factor productivity—we build a bridge between economic growth theories and the economic complexity literature. Our findings show that fitness plays a crucial role in fostering economic growth and, when it is included in the analysis, can be either complementary to traditional drivers of growth or can completely overshadow them. Notably, for the most complex countries, which have the most diversified export baskets and the largest endowments of capabilities, fitness is complementary to the chosen growth determinants in enhancing economic growth. The empirical findings are in agreement with neoclassical and endogenous growth theories. By contrast, for countries with intermediate and low capability levels, fitness emerges as the key growth driver. This suggests that economic models should account for capabilities; in fact, describing the technological possibilities of countries solely in terms of their production functions may lead to a misinterpretation of the roles of factors. [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]

In the context of EU enlargement there is no universal model which should offer a unique solution for diminishing the disparities in the development of a country. An approach only from the point of view of economic growth is not enough, so we extend the analysis towards the social development. Considering the level of GDP per capita and of HDI registered by EU states during 1995-2012, we test the hypothesis of real σ and β-convergence in terms of economic and social development. The estimated results indicate a tendency in reducing the divergence in both economic and social degree of development. A relatively strong process of real σ-convergence became evident while real β-convergence testing supports the hypothesis among EU countries, but the results indicate a slower process for HDI convergence compared with GDP per capita. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on Aghion et al. (), this article provides new insights regarding whether financial development can affect economic growth non-linearly by adopting the concept of threshold effects. The empirical approach adopted in this article allows for the finance-growth relationship to be piecewise linear with a set of indicators including access to finance acting as a regime-switching trigger. Using cross-country observations from 144 countries stretching from 1985 to 2009, strong evidence of threshold effects in finance-growth link is found. It is suggested that financial development in general, and access to finance in particular, is among the important forces contributing to cross-country (non)-convergences in growth rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the economic growth model suited for countries with high proportions of foreign workers. It mentions that growth experiences of countries consisting the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are consistent with the low per capita growth and high overall growth predictions of the modified growth model. Moreover, the foreign supply of labor becomes more elastic along the transitional dynamics converges to zero.

This paper examines empirically whether and how regional integration leads to convergence and growth amongst developing countries. Using standard growth models for nearly 100 developing countries over 1970-2004 we cannot establish robust growth effects of regional integration as such at the aggregated level of analysis even after using alternative measures of regional integration. However, because we find that trade and FDI promote growth, and because regional integration tends to increase trade and FDI, regional integration still has a positive impact on growth in its members through the effects of increased trade and investment on growth. Further, country-specific growth diagnostics do suggest that regional integration can be a binding constraint to growth as "deep" regional approaches can help to address crucial rail, road, air and energy links amongst countries (e.g. in the East African Community). Our findings also suggest that initially high levels of regional income disparities will lead to greater decreases in disparities. Whilst the level of intra-regional trade and incomes do not explain changes in income disparities, the presence of a regional Development Finance Institutions (e.g. Central American or East African development banks) with a relatively high loan exposure to GDP ratio tends to reduce regional income disparities suggesting a useful role for deeper integration in achieving regional cohesion. A one percentage point increase in exposure by DFIs leads to a drop of σ of about one percentage point. Finally, while the macro economic literature on regional integration tends to highlight only limited expected effects of African regional integration itself, our work at the firm level in three African countries (Benin, Malawi and South Africa) is indicative of significant dynamic effects of regional integration through the effects on firm level productivity in Africa. We suggest that in the future, further growth analytical work is undertaken which combines the development of methods to examine the effects of regions and measurement of the various types of regional integration.JEL Classification: F15, F21, F43, O47 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]