scholarly journals An Empirical Analysis of Convergence Hypothesis

2000 ◽  
Vol 39 (4II) ◽  
pp. 729-740 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eatzaz Ahmad ◽  
Amber Naz

A useful contribution of wide ranging debate in the growth literature is that it has put forward a number of testable hypotheses. One of such hypotheses is known as the convergence hypothesis whereby it is postulated that in the long run developing countries would catch-up with the developed countries in terms of per capita income. Although the convergence hypothesis has gained researchers’ interest in recent times, the basic proposition was laid down in the neo-classical growth model of Solow (1956) and Swan (1956). Traditionally Solow-Swan model has been regarded as a theoretically consistent answer to Harrods’s (1939) twin problems of discrepancy between the warranted and natural rates of growth and instability in the growth process. Although Solow- Swan model is designed to study growth process within a single country, the concept of conditional convergence is far from being alien to the model; it in fact forms the core of argument in the attack on Harrod-Domar model [Harrod (1939) and Domar (1946)].

INFO ARTHA ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 17-28
Author(s):  
Anisa Fahmi

Motivated by inter-regional disparities condition that occurs persistently, this study examines the Indonesian economy in the long run in order to know whether it tends to converge or diverge. This convergence is based on the Solow Neoclassical growth theory assuming the existence of diminishing returns to capital so that when the developed countries reach steady state conditions, developing countries will continuously grow up to 'catch-up' with developed countries. Based on regional economics perspective, each region can not be treated as a stand-alone unit,therefore, this study also focuses on the influence of spatial dependency and infrastructure. Economical and political situations of a region will influence policy in that region which will also have an impact to the neighboring regions. The estimation results of spatial cross-regressive model using fixed effect method consistently confirmed that the Indonesian economy in the long term will likely converge with a speed of 8.08 percent per year. Other findings are road infrastructure has a positive effect on economic growth and investment and road infrastructure are spatially showed a positive effect on economic growth. In other words, the investment and infrastructure of a region does not only affect the economic growth of that region but also to the economy of the contiguous regions. 


2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 87
Author(s):  
Anisa Fahmi

Motivated inter-regional disparities condition that occurs persistently, this thesis examines the Indonesian economy in the long run, whether it will tend to converge or diverge. This convergence is based on the Solow Neoclassical growth theory which assumes the existence of diminishing returns to capital so that when the developed countries reach steady state conditions, developing countries will continuous growth up to ‘catch-up‘ with developed countries. This thesis also focuses on the influence of spatial dependency and infrastructure since regional economics perspective, each region can not be treated as a stand-alone unit. Economical and political situation of a region will influence policy in that region which will also have an impact to the neighboring regions. The estimation results of  spatial cross-regressive model using fixed effect method consistently confirmed that the Indonesian economy in the long term will likely converge with a speed of 8.08 percent per year. Other finding is, road infrastructure has a positive effect on economic growth and investment  and road infrastructure are spatially showed a positive effect on economic growth. In other words, the investment and the infrastructure of a region not only affect the economic growth of that region but also to the economy of the contiguous region.


Author(s):  
A. O. K. Noah ◽  
Adesoji A. Oni ◽  
Simeon A. Dosunmu

The phenomenon of globalization is defined variously, but in general, it is defined as the establishment of a global market for goods and capital, leading to what could be described as a multiplicity of linkages and interconnections between places, events, ideas, issues, and things, irrespective of whether they are directly related or not. Globalization on the other hand cannot be a reality in any nation if its educational system is not implicitly or explicitly geared towards achieving meaningful and desirable change for that society. However, since education and indeed the (educator) teacher constitute the most viable instruments by which an emerging nation can catch up with the developed countries, globalization will therefore be a mirage if teacher education is not geared towards producing teachers who are globalization friendly, teachers who are not allergic to globalization. In view of the above, this chapter examines the concept of globalization side by side with the current goals of teacher education in Nigeria.


Author(s):  
Ş. Mustafa Ersungur ◽  
Aslı Cansın Doker ◽  
Adem Türkmen

Owing to Solow’s neo-classical the convergence hypothesis, which explains underdeveloped and developing countries grew faster than any of these developed countries have acknowledged that captures the level of per capita income, was added to the economic growth and development literature. Despite, theoretically there are two different approaches in convergence analysis; real and conditional, it cannot be said generalizing empirical results for both. Accordingly, 29 transition economies which tried to cross from the planned economic system into liberal economic system, is subjected to this study. Convergence have been analysed on transition economies between 1991 and 2011 using the growth rate of per capita income as variables by cross-sectional data analysis. In this study, additionally to real convergence, obtaining from the KOF index of economics, political and social integration and openness data were included the model as dummy variables for examining conditional convergence. Depending on empirical results on real and conditional convergence analysis, the convergence hypothesis is accepted. It is identified that Cambodia, Vietnam and China especially have caught up with faster growth comparing with other transition economies; however, those countries have shown weaker convergence than others. On the other hand, Kirghizstan and Tajikistan, which are known as mostly having the effects of transition recessions, have negative growth rates, and those countries have been diverging from other countries’ growth performance. From findings obtained within conditional convergence, it is examined while political liberalisation and openness variables have been accepted significantly; the economic and social liberalization variables have no significant effect on convergence.


2005 ◽  
Vol 44 (4II) ◽  
pp. 805-817
Author(s):  
Abdul Rashid

The issue of whether public investment crowds out or crowds in private investment has received considerable attention in the economic literature. Most of the empirical studies that examined the long run stable association between public and private investment have focused on examining this relationship for the developed countries with very little attention on the developing countries. The empirical results of these studies, however, are highly controversial. The existing empirical studies in this area can be divided into three categories. The studies in the first category including Barro (1974), Kormendi (1983), and Feldstein (1982) have examined the empirical implications of the Ricardian equivalence hypothesis (REH). The empirical results of most of the studies in this category were supportive of the REH. Seater (1993) argues that good empirical studies generally provide evidence in support of the REH; however, some studies refute it owing to the lake of econometric accuracy.


Author(s):  
Luis Bértola ◽  
Gabriel Porcile

AbstractThis paper discusses the economic performance of three Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay) from a comparative perspective, using as a benchmark a group of four developed countries (France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States). The focus is on the relative performance within the region and between the Latin American countries and the developed countries in the period 1900–1980. The paper argues that Argentina and Uruguay benefited from a privileged position in international markets at the beginning of the 20th century and this allowed them to converge. However, they failed to adjust to the major long-run change in the pattern of world trade brought about by World War I and the Great Depression, which implied a persistent decline of their export markets. On the other hand, Brazil, after having been much less successful until 1930, grew at higher rates thereafter based on rapid structural change and the building up of competitive advantages in new industrial sectors. The more vigorous Brazilian policy for industrialization and export diversification may explain why Brazil succeeded in changing its pattern of specialization, while Argentina and Uruguay were locked in to the old pattern. A typology of convergence regimes is suggested based on the growth experience of these countries.


2007 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 35-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sunil Ashra ◽  
Malini Chakravarty

The fertiliser industry in developing countries is facing challenge and uncertain future due to their commitments to the WTO. This is part of the reason that the developing countries are pushing for reducing of subsidies given by the developed countries to their agriculture which is much bigger making the subsidies to agriculture becoming a contentious issue in the WTO negotiations. Some of the subsidies are accepted in the WTO context whereas the others are not. In India the farm sector subsidies are given in the form of irrigation, electricity, fertilisers etc. By far the fertiliser and food subsidies are the most significant amounting to about US$9.3 billion in 2004 (less than 0.5 percent of GDP). Thus, while from the WTO point of view, it is not necessary to reduce fertiliser subsidy in India. However, because of the WTO commitments, quantitative restrictions in this sector had to be removed by the end of March 2001 in India. Cheaper imports have been threatening the domestic industry specially the units that do not use gas as feedstock. In the short run domestic companies may enjoy the protection of differential subsidy in some form or the other. But in the long run they will have to compete on a stand-alone basis. This paper examines the experience and impact of fertiliser subsidy across various countries and shows that it is a common tool to promote farm production. But the evidence shows that the fertiliser subsidy tends to benefit the rich farmers more than the poor farmers. The study examines the different approaches used by the policymakers to reach the targeted farmers. In this context the paper records the evidence from some countries where the fertiliser industry has come forward and complemented the policymakers' efforts to meet this objective and in the process ensured their better future.


1997 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-29
Author(s):  
Irfan ul Haque

The diverse growth experience of economies across the globe is perhaps the most intriguing question that the economics profession faces. The economies of East Asia have grown rapidly over the past three decades, while the economic performance of the South Asian and Latin American countries has been relatively mediocre, although better than that of the African countries, where the per capita incomes have been generally declining. Among the developed countries also, there has been considerable diversity of economic performance.


Author(s):  
Debashis Mazumdar

The persistently large income gap between the Developed Countries (DCs) of the North and relatively Less Developed and Developing Countries (LDDCs) of the South is one of the most notable features of the international community over the last few decades. Such large disparities in income are paralleled by huge gaps in other non-monetary indicators of well being. Different research works in this field have indicated that the average annual growth rate of per capita income in LDDCs has been faster compared to that in DCs particularly since early 1990s indicating a sign of convergence in the growth process. However, the absolute gap between the DCs and LDDCs in terms of per capita GNP has widened over years. In this chapter, an attempt has been made to indicate the pattern of ß-convergence and s- convergence in income growth between DCs and LDDCs during 1960-2012. The study observes that there remains a definite indication of ß and s convergence in the growth rate of real PCI across different groups of nations particularly during the period 2000-2013.


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