Search

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]

Introduces the May 2003 issue of the journal 'Meteroeconomica.' Influence of market power on employment, wage inequality and growth; Reasons for convergence in per capita income; Impact of environmental degradation on the growth performance of a developing economy.

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]

In this paper we examine how internal migration redistributes earned income across U. S. states between 1995 and 2010. We examine interregional income flows by first describing the movement of earned income between U. S. states. Second, we examine the effect of income migration on spatial patterns of income inequality. The question we ask is, 'does migration increase or decrease convergence income across U. S. States?' A primary contribution of this paper is that instead of using only 1 year of income migration data to explore these issues, we use yearly data from the first year the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data started including income (1995/1996) up to the most current data available (2009/2010). Results indicate that income convergence/divergence across states varies by whether or not there is general economic expansion or contraction. Nevertheless, some high-amenity states continually attract high-income households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

The paper investigates inflation convergence in five East African countries: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, as they aspire to form a monetary union by 2024 under the umbrella of the East African Community (EAC). We find that inflation differentials in the five EAC countries are not persistent, implying that inflation rates in these countries have been converging. This convergence can be attributed to a similarity in terms of the nature of shocks affecting EAC countries as well as the crucial role of foreign factors as drivers of inflation in these countries since the early 1990s. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the formation of convergence clubs and examines the drivers of growth convergence in Africa by accounting for individual heterogenous effects and establishing transitional paths. We particularly employ the sophisticated log t test to identify underlying convergence clubs and use LSDVC as a benchmark model for analysing the drivers of convergence. We also apply the System Generalized method of moments (GMM) model for sensitivity purposes. Our results reveal four core convergence clubs; seemingly characterised by the measures of institutional stability with distinct transitional paths. We consequently highlight the importance of initial conditions, human capital and institutions in the formation of convergence clubs. Thus, the paper provides insights into the adoption of differentiated development policies consistent with the specific conditions of African countries with the integration agenda driven by accelerated levels of human capital development and technological progress. [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]

The article aims to explain regional economic development and economic convergence under the theme of spatial econometrics. The major idea behind the economic convergence is decreasing returns to capital accumulation. The economic convergence can be achieved by variety of theoretical and statistical models. There are so many advanced studies came out. They will facilitate convergence model specification and statistical testing for better efficiency.

Consumer policy is already being shaped by a combination of governance models. This position paper argues that complexity-oriented convergence models are a timely addition. Modern day consumer policy is characterized as interactive and integrative, replete with shifting boundaries and coalitions and evolving roles for each of state, market and society. This paper focused on governance in the consumer policy arena, arguing that this process needs to acknowledge and reconcile complexity. After describing the basic tenets of complexity theory, two characteristics of contemporary tri-sector interaction (i.e., sector blurring and sector distortion) were discussed. These boundary characteristics necessitate the need for approaches that can accommodate complexity during consumer policy governance. Three examples of the latter were profiled: sector convergence, network governance and cross-sector governance. These conceptualizations accommodate the dynamics, complexity and emergence of contemporary consumer policy governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European regions experience accelerating ageing, but the process has substantial regional variation. This paper examines the effect of this variation on regional economic cohesion in Europe. We measure the effect of convergence or divergence in the share of the working age population on convergence or divergence in economies of NUTS 2 regions. The effect of convergence or divergence in ageing on economic convergence or divergence is quite substantial and, in some cases, is bigger than the effect of changes in productivity and labour force participation. Convergence of ageing leads to economic convergence only when the share of the working age population in rich regions exceeds that in poor regions and the former regions experience a substantial decline in the share of the working age population, or the latter regions experience an increase. During 2003–12, an inverse relationship between convergence in ageing and economic convergence was the rule rather than the exception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an analysis of the recent evolution of social assistance in the developing world, looking at its complex typological configuration, which has interlinked with, and partly reflects the complex demographic and epidemiological transitions and rapid urbanization and economic convergence that many developing countries have exhibited over the past decades. The paper underscores the principles of the poverty focus of social assistance and presents an overview of existence evidence of first‐ and second‐order effects of social assistance, particularly in the domains of poverty, education, health, and labor markets. Moreover, the paper highlights the knowledge gaps with regard to the longer term and gender‐specific welfare effects of social assistance, and the redistributive effects, and the incentives and distortion mechanisms that transfer programs can generate in the labor and insurance markets. [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 paper analyses the determinants of regional disparities in per capita gross domestic product (GDP) and their evolution over time in the enlarged European Union (EU). With reference to the literature it groups EU regions on the basis of three different factors-specialisation, socio-economic features, and innovation. It then analyses regional disparities in per capita GDP (EU-relative and country-relative) across groups over 2004-2011 using both non-parametric tools and traditional regression analysis with spatial effects. The paper finds that EU-wide convergence actually conceals growing divergence across old member regions and within new members. Coming to the factors that lie at the heart of regional disparities, country factors lose importance for newcomers but become more important for older members, notwithstanding longstanding integration. Socio-economic factors and innovation instead become increasingly important for all areas, socio-economic factors lying at the heart of within-country differences and innovation more of those between regions. Finally, specialisation appears to have a lower explanatory power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When the Melitz model is implemented in practice, the industrial productivity distribution is often assumed to be of Pareto form. In this case, a fundamental relationship κ > σ − 1 must hold to guarantee the convergence of the industrial average productivity, where κ is the concentration degree of the industrial productivity Pareto distribution and σ is the substitution elasticity across varieties in the industry. This paper estimates the concentration degrees of the Pareto distribution in industrial productivity and industrial substitution elasticities using firm-level data of 40 Chinese manufacturing industries between 1998 and 2007. However, the paper shows that the above fundamental assumption κ > σ − 1 does not hold for nearly all the industries for Chinese firm-level data. An explanation is proposed as a result of the distorted firm size and productivity for Chinese characteristics. [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 uses highly disaggregated data to analyze the convergence process in product‐level relative productivity across Spanish provinces. Over the period 1988‐2013 there is a 53 per cent reduction in product‐level relative productivity differences across provinces. The speed of convergence in product‐level productivity is faster than in income per capita. Provinces that are geographically close, have strong ties and share similar factor endowments become more similar in product‐level relative productivities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to understand how the determinants of economic growth in Brazil may manifest themselves differently on various spatial scales between 1991 and 2000. Analysing this issue sheds light on the modifiable areal unit problem (a measurement issue). In addition, it also suggests potential explanations for the origin of this variability. This latter issue relates to the scale-dependent determinants of economic growth (a structural issue). The analysis reveals that the results change as the scale level changes and suggests a general framework for dealing with multiple spatial scales and model uncertainty. Moreover, the extent of the effects of spatial externalities and the issue of spatial heterogeneity are investigated. Resumen El objetivo de este artículo es entender como los factores determinantes del crecimiento económico de Brasil pueden mostrarse de manera diferente según la escala espacial entre 1991 y 2000. El análisis de este tema ilustra el problema de la unidad de superficie modificable (problema de medición). Además, sugiere también posibles explicaciones para el origen de esta variabilidad. Este último asunto esta relacionado con los factores dependientes de la escala que determinan el crecimiento económico (un problema estructural). El análisis revela que los resultados cambian a medida que lo hace la escala y sugiere un marco general para tratar con escalas espaciales múltiples y modelización de incertidumbre. Además, se investiga el alcance de los efectos de las externalidades espaciales y el problema de la heterogeneidad espacial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question this paper investigates is whether or not different metropolitan areas each constitute a separate housing market or whether or not there is a single South African housing market. Theory on the Law of One Price suggests that if products or geographic areas belong in the same market, their absolute prices must converge, so that their relative prices are stationary. By using cross-sectional time series data of five metropolitan areas, the paper tests for the Law of One Price by applying the Im, Pesaran and Shin panel unit root test. The paper finds strong evidence of convergence in large middle-segment house prices and weaker support for convergence in medium middle-segment house prices. In addition, the paper finds no evidence for convergence in small middle-segment house prices. This suggests the existence of a national market for large and possibly middle-segment houses in metropolitan areas, but separate metropolitan markets for small middle-segment houses. In addition, the paper estimates the speed of convergence and finds that large middle-segment house prices converge within two to seven quarters, while the speed of convergence for medium middle-segment house prices in three of the five areas is five to eight quarters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special section navigates the contested terrain of the sustainable city and aims to develop new entry points for interdisciplinary dialogue and research. Six contributions from geography and planning critically engage with the simultaneous convergence of sustainable city visions and universal models of 'best practice' and the demonstrable divergence in how these visions and models are conceptualised and adopted in specific urban contexts. The papers unpack the implications of an emphasis on models and modelling of the sustainable city in relation to masterplanning, building assessment, governance, green urbanism, pedagogy and critical urban enquiry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several different approaches to international comparison of Total Factor Productivity (TFP) have now emerged. Among these are the time-series approach, the panel approach, and the cross-section approach. This paper compares methodologies of these different approaches and results that have been obtained from their application. The comparison of results is conducted in the context of two samples, namely the sample of G7 countries and a large sample that includes developing nations. It is found that while there are broad agreements in results, there exist considerable differences too. The analysis shows how these differences can be related, in part, to differences in methodology. The paper also shows how these different approaches to international TFP-comparison can play a complementary role in enhancing our understanding of such important phenomena as technological diffusion and TFP-convergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the convergence of energy consumption in Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) countries. A new non‐linear unit root test is principally utilized in the convergence analysis. We support the convergence of energy consumption in the OPEC member countries. Convergence of energy consumption is associated with the call for energy conservation policies, in order to improve energy efficiency and reduce global greenhouse emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The paper analyses the determinants and the evolution of income disparities across regions within Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) over 1991–2011. We add to the literature in different ways. First, we adapt the categories that Rodriguez‐Pose used for studying convergence among old EU members to CEECs regions. This allows us to assess the relevance of geo‐sectoral groups (urban areas, old industrialized areas and peripheral areas) for newcomer regions. Second, we introduce a new category, that of ‘successful Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)‐based restructuring’ in order to capture regions that, often through considerable FDI, manage to reconvert their old industrial base. We then analyze whether this group helps understand catching‐up/falling behind processes in CEECs. We test the relevance of these groups by means of both non‐parametric and spatial regression analyses. We find that they help explain the increase in within‐countries’ regional disparities especially after the turn of the century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper, we explore whether higher corporate tax rates, because they lower the after‐tax returns to productivity‐enhancing investments, reduce the speed with which small firms converge to the productivity frontier. Using data for 11 European countries, we find evidence that their productivity catch‐up is slower when the statutory corporate tax rates are higher. In contrast, we find that large firms are instead affected by effective marginal rates. Using the reduced‐form model of productivity convergence of Griffith et al. (2009, Journal of Regional Science 49, 689–720), our results are robust to a host of robustness checks and a natural experiment that exploits the 2001 German tax reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper attempts to analyse the conditional β-convergence and its sources for 32 African countries over the period 1960-2008. The augmented Solow model with both gross domestic product ( GDP) per worker and per capita income is estimated using the dynamic system generalized methods of moments ( GMM) technique with the panel data. This is the first study on the sources of conditional β-convergence for African countries. According to the results of the augmented Solow model, income convergence rates are lower than those of GDP per worker. Moreover, total factor productivity convergence, human capital convergence and capital labour convergence are contributing towards the convergence of GDP per worker in Africa. This means that growth in the poorest African countries is being augmented by 'catch-up factor,' which is good news for them. However, convergence in terms of GDP per worker is not being fully translated into income per capita convergence. The demographic structure in the African continent with its record of persistent population growth has played an important role in lowering the income convergence of its countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies on income convergence estimate the convergence equation derived for autarkic economies using data from the world that is increasingly integrated. This paper derives a convergence equation for a world integrated by trade from the standard Heckscher- Ohlin model with factor price equalization. The convergence equation for an integrated world differs from the autarkic one in that (1) the growth rate of each economy is increasing in the global growth rate; (2) the rate of convergence is increasing in the global growth rate; and (3) the rate of convergence, under conventional parameter values, is much lower. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rising pace of technological change in information and communications technology (ICT) has provoked technological convergence by providing a new mode of diversification. This paper investigates the nature of ICTbased converging technologies by examining comparative empirical evidence on converging versus nonconverging technologies in relation to the following issues: patent application trends, concentration across technologies, the concentration of patenting activity across firms, R&D efforts, and a technology impact index. For this study, a new operational definition of ICT-based converging technology is derived, and a massive quantity of patents, up to around 600,000, is analyzed. This study follows the International Patent Classification as well as the modified European Commission's industry classification system for the classification of technologies and industries, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an empirical model of network formation, combining strategic and random networks features. Payoffs depend on direct links, but also link externalities. Players meet sequentially at random, myopically updating their links. Under mild assumptions, the network formation process is a potential game and converges to an exponential random graph model (ERGM), generating directed dense networks. I provide new identification results for ERGMs in large networks: if link externalities are nonnegative, the ERGM is asymptotically indistinguishable from an Erdős-Rényi model with independent links. We can identify the parameters only when at least one of the externalities is negative and sufficiently large. However, the standard estimation methods for ERGMs can have exponentially slow convergence, even when the model has asymptotically independent links. I thus estimate parameters using a Bayesian MCMC method. When the parameters are identifiable, I show evidence that the estimation algorithm converges in almost quadratic time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an easy-to-use nonparametric indicator for club convergence, or convergence within clusters of countries: it measures whether the modes of the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita distribution become more pronounced over time. Relying on changes in the critical bandwidth for unimodality, the indicator is a dynamic extension of concepts from often-used multimodality tests. Its evolution suggests the new empirical result of a 'millennium peak' in club convergence in the worldwide GDP per capita distribution. The club convergence movements of the 1980s and 1990s, when groups of poor and rich countries converged to two separate points, was followed by a de-clubbing movement after the turn of the millennium. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is the first to specifically focus on the integration of refugee immigrants into the Swedish labor market. Using highly detailed register data on blue collar workers it is shown that refugees' employment lags that of natives basically for their whole life time in Sweden. Time in Sweden reduces drastically the unemployment days, though from very high initial levels. Refugees from culturally distant Iran/ Iraq and Horn of Africa experience considerably more days in unemployment than refugees from the less distant Eastern Europe and Latin America. The differences are large during the first 20 years in Sweden but some convergence occurs thereafter. Following a business cycle upturn this paper finds that the reduction of refugees' unemployment is half of that of natives'. Since refugees arrive at different ages, high numbers of unemployment days are recorded also for relatively old refugees with the highest number for those above 30. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the patterns, causes, and implications of China's structural change and its contribution to China's regional growth. Among many other findings, our regression results show that conditional convergence exists across different regions in China. Regional structural change has a convergence effect and regional openness facilitates regional structural change. Structural shocks and structural transformation had the opposite effect on China's interregional convergence during the 1990s, though the combined effect of overall structural change is a convergence effect. We also find that Chinese regions rely more heavily on structural change for labor productivity growth as the economy evolves. In summary, the results of our empirical analysis support the hypothesis underlying the theoretical model of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The asymptotic validity of tests is usually established by making appropriate primitive assumptions, which imply the weak convergence of a specific function of the data, and an appeal to the continuous mapping theorem. This paper, instead, takes the weak convergence of some function of the data to a limiting random element as the starting point and studies efficiency in the class of tests that remain asymptotically valid for all models that induce the same weak limit. It is found that efficient tests in this class are simply given by efficient tests in the limiting problem-that is, with the limiting random element assumed observed-evaluated at sample analogues. Efficient tests in the limiting problem are usually straightforward to derive, even in nonstandard testing problems. What is more, their evaluation at sample analogues typically yields tests that coincide with suitably robustified versions of optimal tests in canonical parametric versions of the model. This paper thus establishes an alternative and broader sense of asymptotic efficiency for many previously derived tests in econometrics, such as tests for unit roots, parameter stability tests, and tests about regression coefficients under weak instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses an interregional input output model to estimate the economic impact of the EU structural funds received by the Spanish regions during the period 1995–1999. We attempt to cast further light on the interregional effects that the funds have produced in terms of output, value added and employment, not just in the regions where they were originally allocated, but also in the rest of the regions. This analysis offers additional information than the one attained using macroeconomic models which do not take interregional spillovers into account. The results are relevant regarding the discussion about the effectiveness of EU cohesion policy, and the share of output effects that are captured by the richest regions through their intersectoral linkages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tests the hypothesis of conditional β-convergence in per capita income across the United States by extending the neoclassical growth model to incorporate public capital, government taxation, and human capital, and controlling empirically for technology growth. We expand the period of analysis from the late 1980s when studies using public capital stock have stopped, investigate spatial variation across the United States under various cross-sectional and panel spatial models, and tackle the issue of nonlinearities. All model variations provide evidence of economic convergence across the United States over the period 1960–2005. Resumen Este artículo evalúa las hipótesis de beta-convergencia condicional en renta per cápita en los Estados Unidos, ampliando el modelo de crecimiento neoclásico con la incorporación de capital público, tributación gubernamental y capital humano, y controlando empíricamente el crecimiento tecnológico. Hemos ampliado el periodo de análisis desde finales de los ochenta, momento en que se suspendieron los estudios que utilizaban reservas de capital público, hemos investigado la variación espacial para los Estados Unidos de acuerdo con diferentes modelos transversales y espaciales de panel, y hemos abordado el tema de las no linealidades. Todas las variaciones del modelo aportan pruebas de convergencia económica dentro de los Estados Unidos para el periodo 1960-2005. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Debates help drive research forward. This paper is unique in its review of four current debates in the global strategy arena: (1) cultural vs institutional distance; (2) global vs regional geographic diversification; (3) convergence vs divergence in corporate governance; and (4) domestic vs overseas corporate social responsibility. For each debate, the history is tracked and the emerging tension highlighted. By introducing both sides of four lively and timely debates, the paper provides an innovative way of reviewing the literature and helping to advance the field. It is argued that an underlying theme connecting these four diverse debates is the institution-based view of global strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the late 1980s there has been a renewed interest in regional inequality, fuelled by the concern over the effects of globalisation and liberalisation, and facilitated by theoretical and methodological developments in geography and economics. In essence, the new convergence theory, like the old convergence theory, is another theory devoid of space and time. Research on China has unfolded a complex landscape of regional development, the existence of distinct models of regional development, and the significant role of institutions. This paper examines regional inequality in China, especially Zhejiang Province, and attempts to uncover the trend and driving forces of regional inequality. It adopts a top-down and bottom-up strategy and employs recent developments in exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) and geographically weighted regression (GWR). We have found that regional inequality is sensitive to geographic scales and spatial organisation, and that conventional approaches mask spatial agglomeration and the significance of regions in shaping trends of regional inequality. Overall, regional inequality in Zhejiang rose during the reform period and a division between coastal and interior Zhejiang formed, additionally sustained by weak linkages between the two regions and the significance of location and nonstate enterprises in development. This paper further reveals the emergence of Wenzhou, and discusses its effect on regional inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the factors that increase the likelihood of economic transition to higher income status, thereby attempting to answer the question of why some economies move to a higher income country group while others do not. Using a quintile income distribution approach, we identify 62 economies that moved to a higher quintile income group in each decade from 1960s to the 2010s out of a sample of 182 economies. Our findings show that higher physical and human capital growth and oil revenues are significantly associated with a greater probability of transitioning to higher quintile income group, although their effects vary not only across income groups within a sample period but also across different periods. Our results indicate that economies that have attained substantial capital accumulation (either physical or human, or combination thereof) and/or are blessed with natural resources have avoided income traps and demonstrated a successful and often steady transition to higher income groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides evidence on factors driving productivity growth in the new EU member states, focusing on Polish manufacturing industries. The results obtained indicate that companies in Poland benefit significantly from transfer of technologies accumulated in more developed economies. No strong evidence is found on immediate technology transfer. The significant effect of domestic innovation activity is mainly due to its impact on the speed of convergence and is particularly strong in high-tech industries, relatively privatized industries and industries initially further from the technological frontier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the presence of flexibility within the common monetary area (CMA) as compared to a selected group of Southern African Development Co-operation (SADC) countries. The study tests for the readiness of SADC countries towards macroeconomic convergence and monetary unification. The methods followed examine the concept of (relative) purchasing power parity and test for the speed of adjustment of prices after a shock. The results suggest that the level of price flexibility is high within the CMA as opposed to the control group. The implication is that the CMA arrangement has managed to foster price flexibility among its member countries. Furthermore, Botswana could be a potential candidate for a monetary union with the CMA group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic disparities between the regions of the European Union are of constant concern both for policy and economic research. In this paper, we examine whether there are overlapping trends of regional development in the EU: overall convergence, on the one hand, and persistent or even increasing spatial concentration (agglomeration), on the other. Kernel density estimation, Markov chain analysis and cross-sectional regressions provide evidence that convergence of regional per-capita income in the EU15 has become considerably stronger in the 1990s. The reduction of income disparities, however, is a phenomenon between nations but not between regions within the EU countries. European integration (and possibly European regional policy) fosters the catching-up of lagging countries but at the same time forces towards agglomeration of economic activities tend to increase disparities within the EU member states. Resumen. Las disparidades económicas entre regiones de la Unión Europea son una preocupación constante para la investigación relacionada con políticas y con economía. En este artículo examinamos si existen tendencias superpuestas de desarrollo regional en la UE: convergencia en términos generales, por un lado, y por otro una concentración espacial (aglomeración) continua o incluso en aumento. La estimación por núcleos ( kernel) de la función de densidad, el análisis mediante cadenas de Markov y las regresiones transversales aportan pruebas de que la convergencia de ingresos regionales per cápita de la UE15 se ha fortalecido considerablemente en la década de los noventa. La reducción en la disparidad de ingresos, sin embargo, es un fenómeno entre naciones pero no entre regiones dentro de países de la UE. La integración europea (y quizá la política regional europea) fomenta la puesta al día de los países rezagados pero al mismo tiempo las fuerzas conducentes a la aglomeración de actividades económicas tienden a aumentar las disparidades dentro de los estados miembros de la UE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the feasibility of a monetary union in Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) by looking at evidence of nominal exchange rate and inflation convergence. Using a methodology based on estimating time-varying parameters, the evidence suggests non-convergence. The non-convergence of nominal exchange rate and consumer price inflation suggests that presently the chances of SADC member countries satisfying some form of Maastricht-type criteria is quite low. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Relying primarily on English language scholarship, this paper seeks to highlight the dynamics of China's economic integration beyond its borders as Chinese economic actors extend their search for commodities-in this case into the Russian Federation for timber products. The paper considers the shifts in the political economy of Russian forestry exports from a predominantly domestic and Japan-focused trade during the 1947-1991 Cold War era to a north-south trajectory increasingly emphasizing trade with China from 1993 to 2010. Chinese and Russian bilateral trade data, acting as a barometer of national forestry-related policies, highlight the economic convergence and benefits brought to both the Russian and Chinese timber sectors over the past two decades. Far from being an environmentally deterministic process-one based on the physical geographic characteristics on the ground in both of these states-this binational commodity trade shows that the geography of the Russia- China forest product trade is highly dynamic, temporally variable, and intimately intertwined with national political and economic considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Papers in Regional Science 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 this paper, we propose an index that measures the agreement level between an individual opinion and a collective opinion when both are expressed by rankings of a set of alternatives. This index constitutes an interesting weighted version of the well-known Kendall's ranks correlation index. The originality of the proposed index arises from the fact that it accounts for the relevance of the specific position of the alternatives in an individual order to quantify the agreement level of the individual order with respect to a collective temporary order. The paper also introduces a new consensus measure model. The core of the consensus model is the proposed agreement index. We present an illustrative example to describe the consensus process. We can obtain a faster convergence to a consensus solution using this new index compared to Kendall's index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we revisit the analysis of cross-country convergence by combining spatial econometrics and panel quantile regressions to estimate conditional β-convergence models. Moreover, we use both exogenous and endogenous weight matrices. Our results show that indeed the effects of initial per capita income, investment rate, population growth and human capital on growth rates vary considerably across the estimated quantiles. Convergence is not a generalized phenomenon across the conditional growth distribution. Moreover, while using exogenous spatial weight matrices does not substantially alter the findings found in a-spatial models, it appears that endogenous weights dramatically affect the estimates of the convergence process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sustainability of the ERM and the feasibility of EMU is dependent upon the economies of the EC achieving the appropriate degree of economic convergence. One of the difficulties in determining this is the absence of a broadly acceptable measure of economic convergence. In this paper we consider possible definitions of convergence for time series. To be useful the definition must allow for the stochastic nature of the data under consideration, and for the development of formal tests of a convergence hypothesis. These two considerations lead us to a preferred definition of convergence and a proposed framework for testing, based on a time varying parameter formulation and estimation by Kalman filter techniques. We consider the relationship between our proposed framework and other methods for testing convergence. It is argued that our method encompasses most of the tests that exist in the literature. Tests for convergence are then applied to exchange rates, interest rates and inflation rates for a sample of countries including members of the ERM. We conclude that the ERM may have helped to promote convergence in the nominal exchange rates. Although interest rate differentials have declined, convergence does not seem to be occurring. For inflation rates convergence can be rejected. Taken together these results suggest reasons for the recent disruption to the ERM and bring into question its sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]