IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cpr/ceprdp/1163.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Tests of the 'Convergence Hypothesis': Some Further Results

Author

Listed:
  • Cohen, Daniel

Abstract

This paper offers new tests of the `convergence hypothesis'. It first analyses the pattern of growth of measured inputs (human and physical capital conventionally measured by an inventory method) and shows that these tests sustain the hypothesis. On the other hand, when the pattern of growth of revealed inputs (physical capital and Solow residual) is analysed, one is led to reject the convergence theory. In order to understand what lies at the heart of this discrepancy, the paper shows that the poor countries failed to catch up with the rich countries not so much because they failed to raise their school enrolments (or the UN-conditional convergence of the stock of measured inputs would not hold), but because the law of motion of human capital embodies a `stock of knowledge' which they failed to raise adequately.

Suggested Citation

  • Cohen, Daniel, 1995. "Tests of the 'Convergence Hypothesis': Some Further Results," CEPR Discussion Papers 1163, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:1163
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=1163
    Download Restriction: CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org
    ---><---

    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:

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Voxi Heinrich Amavilah, 2003. "Resource Inefficiency and Poor Aggregate Economic Performance in African Countries: The Case of Namibia, 1968-1992," Development and Comp Systems 0307005, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Cohen, Daniel, 1997. "Growth and External Debt: A New Perspective on the African and Latin American Tragedies," CEPR Discussion Papers 1753, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. Dessus, Sebastien, 2001. "Human capital and growth : the recovered role of education systems," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2632, The World Bank.
    4. Davide Fiaschi & Andrea Mario Lavezzi & Angela Parenti, 2020. "Deep and Proximate Determinants of the World Income Distribution," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 66(3), pages 677-710, September.
    5. Ben-David, Dan & Rahman, Atiqur, 1996. "Technological Convergence and International Trade," Foerder Institute for Economic Research Working Papers 275614, Tel-Aviv University > Foerder Institute for Economic Research.
    6. Daniel Cohen & Marcelo Soto, 2007. "Growth and human capital: good data, good results," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 51-76, March.
    7. Cyn‐Young Park & Rogelio V. Mercado, 2020. "Economic Convergence, Capital Accumulation, and Income Traps: Empirical Evidence," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 66(1), pages 26-58, March.
    8. Jean-Marc Germain & Stéphanie Guichard, 1998. "L'Asie du Sud-Est : quelles perspectives de croissance à moyen terme ?," Économie et Statistique, Programme National Persée, vol. 311(1), pages 3-36.
    9. Voxi Heinrich Amavilah, 2004. "Apparent Solow- and Solow-like Technological Residuals and the Economic Performance of U.S. Native American Economies," Development and Comp Systems 0406004, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Durlauf, Steven N. & Quah, Danny T., 1999. "The new empirics of economic growth," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & M. Woodford (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 4, pages 235-308, Elsevier.
    11. Alberto Bucci, 2010. "Population in Factor Accumulation-based Growth," Rivista italiana degli economisti, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 1, pages 33-68.
    12. Voxi Heinrich S Amavilah, 2004. "Economic Performance in a Cross-Section of U.S. Native American Economies," GE, Growth, Math methods 0405003, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Cohen, Daniel & Soto, Marcelo, 2002. "Why are Poor Countries Poor? A Message of Hope which Involves the Resolution of a Becker/Lucas Paradox," CEPR Discussion Papers 3528, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    14. Voxi Heinrich Amavilah, 2005. "Solow and the Native Americans: Technological Residuals and the Economic Performance of U.S. Native American Economies," Development and Comp Systems 0505008, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Alberto Bucci, 2009. "Scale Effects, Savings and Factor Shares in a Human Capital-based Growth Model with Physical Capital Accumulation," International Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(3), pages 291-307.
    16. Ouoba, Youmanli, 2020. "Natural resources fund types and capital accumulation: A comparative analysis," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    17. Toni Mora, 2005. "Conditioning factors on regional European clubs - a distributional approach," ERSA conference papers ersa05p302, European Regional Science Association.
    18. Silvia Dal Bianco, 2016. "Going clubbing in the eighties: convergence in manufacturing sectors at a glance," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 50(2), pages 623-659, March.
    19. İbrahim Sezer Belliler, 2023. "Convergence of Military Expenditures in MENA Countries: Evidences from a Fourier Panel Unit Root Test with Multiple Breaks," EKOIST Journal of Econometrics and Statistics, Istanbul University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 0(39), pages 183-199, December.
    20. Toni Mora, 2008. "Factors conditioning the formation of European regional convergence clubs," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 42(4), pages 911-927, December.
    21. Amavilah, Voxi Heinrich, 2008. "Domestic resources, governance, global links, and the economic performance of Sub-Saharan Africa," MPRA Paper 11193, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    22. Spruk, Rok, 2011. "Productivity and income convergence in transition: theory and evidence from Central Europe," MPRA Paper 33389, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    23. Voxi Heinrich S Amavilah, 2005. "INFRASTRUCTURAL v. SUPERSTRUCTURAL EFFECTS OF INSTITUTIONS ON INCOME DETERMINATION ACROSS U.S. NATIVE AMERICAN ECONOMIES," Development and Comp Systems 0505004, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Convergence; Growth; Human Capital; Physical Capital;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O4 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:cpr:ceprdp:1163. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cepr.org .

    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.