IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/germec/v5y2004i1p61-79.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Convergence in Structure and Productivity in European Manufacturing?

Author

Listed:
  • Gugler Klaus

    (University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria)

  • Pfaffermayr Michael

    (University of Innsbruck and Austrian Institute of Economic Research, Innsbruck, Austria)

Abstract

We find fast convergence in productivity for 99 three-digit European industries over the 1985-98 period. Half of any productivity gap is closed on average in about 10-15 years. We explicitly formulate the steady-state assumptions for structural convergence to hold. Convergence in industrial structure is much slower than productivity catch-up with a half-life of around 50 years, a stylized fact which cannot easily be explained by the existing models of trade and growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Gugler Klaus & Pfaffermayr Michael, 2004. "Convergence in Structure and Productivity in European Manufacturing?," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 5(1), pages 61-79, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:bpj:germec:v:5:y:2004:i:1:p:61-79
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1465-6485.2004.00094.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1465-6485.2004.00094.x
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1465-6485.2004.00094.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carree, M. A. & Klomp, L. & Thurik, A. R., 2000. "Productivity convergence in OECD manufacturing industries," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 66(3), pages 337-345, March.
    2. Jan Fagerberg & Bart Verspagen & G. N. von Tunzelmann (ed.), 1994. "The Dynamics Of Technology, Trade And Growth," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 163.
    3. Quah, D., 1990. "Galton'S Fallacy And The Tests Of The Convergence Hypothesis," Working papers 552, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Economics.
    4. Danny Quah, 1993. "Galton's Fallacy and Tests of the Convergence Hypothesis (Now published in Scandinavian Journal of Economics 95 (4), 1993, pp.427-443.)," STICERD - Econometrics Paper Series 265, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE.
    5. Masahisa Fujita & Paul Krugman & Anthony J. Venables, 2001. "The Spatial Economy: Cities, Regions, and International Trade," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262561476, December.
    6. Fagerberg, Jan, 1994. "Technology and International Differences in Growth Rates," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 32(3), pages 1147-1175, September.
    7. Bent Dalum & Gert Villumsen, 1996. "Are OECD Export Specialisation Patterns 'Sticky'? Relations to the Convergence-Divergence Debate," DRUID Working Papers 96-3, DRUID, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Industrial Economics and Strategy/Aalborg University, Department of Business Studies.
    8. Fagerberg, Jan, 1995. "Convergence or Divergence? The Impact of Technology on "Why Growth Rates Differ."," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 5(3), pages 269-284, September.
    9. Jan Fagerberg & Bart Verspagen, 1996. "Heading for Divergence? Regional Growth in Europe Reconsidered," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(3), pages 431-448, September.
    10. Friedman, Milton, 1992. "Do Old Fallacies Ever Die?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 30(4), pages 2129-2132, December.
    11. repec:cep:stiecm:/1993/265 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Nelson, Richard R & Wright, Gavin, 1992. "The Rise and Fall of American Technological Leadership: The Postwar Era in Historical Perspective," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 30(4), pages 1931-1964, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Antje Hildebrandt & Julia Wörz, 2004. "Determinants of Geographical Concentration Patterns in Central and Eastern European Countries," Focus on European Economic Integration, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue 1, pages 70-95.
    2. Palan, Nicole & Schmiedeberg, Claudia, 2010. "Structural convergence of European countries," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 85-100, May.
    3. Kristina Stefanova, 2022. "Labour Productivity Convergence of CEE Countries with the Euro Area – Evidence at Aggregate and Sectoral Level," Economic Studies journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 7, pages 3-19.
    4. David Sondermann, 2014. "Productivity in the euro area: any evidence of convergence?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 999-1027, November.
    5. Alexiadis, Stilianos & Kokkidis, Stilianos, 2010. "Convergence in Agriculture: Evidence from the regions of an Enlarged EU," MPRA Paper 26011, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Alexoaei Alina Petronela & Robu Raluca Georgiana, 2018. "A theoretical review on the structural convergence issue and the relation to economic development in integration areas," Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence, Sciendo, vol. 12(1), pages 34-44, May.
    7. Antje Hildebrandt & Julia Wörz, 2004. "Determinants of Industrial Location Patterns in CEECs," wiiw Working Papers 32, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    8. Bolea, Lucía & Duarte, Rosa & Chóliz, Julio Sánchez, 2018. "From convergence to divergence? Some new insights into the evolution of the European Union," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 82-95.
    9. Stilianos Alexiadis & Alexandros Alexandrakis, 2008. "Threshold Conditions and Regional Convergence in European Agriculture," International Journal of Business and Economic Sciences Applied Research (IJBESAR), International Hellenic University (IHU), Kavala Campus, Greece (formerly Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology - EMaTTech), vol. 1(2), pages 13-37, December.
    10. repec:onb:oenbfs:y:2004:i:1:b:2 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Maciej Grodzicki, 2013. "Productivity Convergence in Manufacturing in the European Union: The Role of Economic Structure," Research in Economics and Business: Central and Eastern Europe, Tallinn School of Economics and Business Administration, Tallinn University of Technology, vol. 5(2).
    12. Aleksejs Melihovs & Igors Kasjanovs, 2011. "The Convergence Processes in Europe and Latvia," Discussion Papers 2011/01, Latvijas Banka.
    13. Vito Imbrenda & Rosa Coluzzi & Valerio Di Stefano & Gianluca Egidi & Luca Salvati & Caterina Samela & Tiziana Simoniello & Maria Lanfredi, 2022. "Modeling Spatio-Temporal Divergence in Land Vulnerability to Desertification with Local Regressions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-20, August.
    14. Nagayasu, Jun, 2012. "Regional inflation and industrial structure in monetary union," MPRA Paper 37310, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. repec:got:cegedp:75 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Michael Böheim & Michael Pfaffermayr & Klaus Gugler, 2000. "Do Growth Rates Differ in European Manufacturing Industries?," Austrian Economic Quarterly, WIFO, vol. 5(2), pages 93-104, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rensman, Marieke, 1996. "Economic growth and technological change in the long run : a survey of theoretical and empirical literature," Research Report 96C10, University of Groningen, Research Institute SOM (Systems, Organisations and Management).
    2. repec:dgr:rugsom:96c10 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Fagerberg, Jan & Verspagen, Bart, 2002. "Technology-gaps, innovation-diffusion and transformation: an evolutionary interpretation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(8-9), pages 1291-1304, December.
    4. Ramesh Chandra Das & Soumyananda Dinda & Frank Martin, 2018. "Defence Outlays Across Countries: Are They Converging?," South Asian Journal of Macroeconomics and Public Finance, , vol. 7(1), pages 109-129, June.
    5. David I. Stern, 2017. "The environmental Kuznets curve after 25 years," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 7-28, April.
    6. Iancu, Aurel, 2009. "Real Economic Convergence," Working Papers of National Institute for Economic Research 090104, Institutul National de Cercetari Economice (INCE).
    7. Stoyan Totev, 2010. "Economic Integration and Conversion in the EU Member States," Economic Thought journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 5, pages 3-23.
    8. G. E. Boyle & T. G. McCARTHY, 1999. "Simple measures of convergence in per capita GDP: a note on some further international evidence," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(6), pages 343-347.
    9. Martin Grančay & Tomáš Dudáš & Ladislav Mura, 2022. "Revealed comparative advantages in academic publishing of “old” and “new” European Union Member States 1998–2018," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(3), pages 1247-1271, March.
    10. Mill�n D�az-Foncea & Carmen Marcuello, 2014. "The Relation between Total Employment and Cooperative Employment: A Convergence and Causality Analysis," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(1), pages 71-92, March.
    11. Quah, Danny, 1995. "Empirics for economic growth and convergence," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 2136, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    12. Desmet, Klaus & Fafchamps, Marcel, 2006. "Employment concentration across U.S. counties," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 482-509, July.
    13. Gluschenko, K., 2012. "Myths about Beta-Convergence," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 16(4), pages 26-44.
    14. Palan, Nicole & Schmiedeberg, Claudia, 2010. "Structural convergence of European countries," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 85-100, May.
    15. Omid Ranjbar & Chien-Chiang Lee & Tsangyao Chang & Mei-Ping Chen, 2014. "Income Convergence in African Countries: Evidence from a Stationary Test With Multiple Structural Breaks," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 82(3), pages 371-391, September.
    16. Steven Deller & Judith I. Stallmann & Lindsay Amiel, 2012. "The Impact of State and Local Tax and Expenditure Limitations on State Economic Growth," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(1), pages 56-84, March.
    17. Sakari Lähdemäki, 2017. "Traditional convergence tests with Penn World Table 9.0," Working Papers 309, Työn ja talouden tutkimus LABORE, The Labour Institute for Economic Research LABORE.
    18. Aadne Cappelen & Fulvio Castellacci & Jan Fagerberg & Bart Verspagen, 2003. "The Impact of EU Regional Support on Growth and Convergence in the European Union," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(4), pages 621-644, September.
    19. Gianni Guastella & Francesco Timpano, 2012. "Increasing Returns, Decreasing Returns and Regional Economic Convergence in the EU," ERSA conference papers ersa12p344, European Regional Science Association.
    20. Bent Dalum & Gert Villumsen, 1996. "Are OECD Export Specialisation Patterns 'Sticky'? Relations to the Convergence-Divergence Debate," DRUID Working Papers 96-3, DRUID, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Industrial Economics and Strategy/Aalborg University, Department of Business Studies.
    21. Julie Le Gallo & Sandy Dall’erba, 2006. "Evaluating the Temporal and Spatial Heterogeneity of the European Convergence Process, 1980–1999," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(2), pages 269-288, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bpj:germec:v:5:y:2004:i:1:p:61-79. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.