IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecmode/v30y2013icp394-404.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

On the dynamics of convergence in cross-country incomes

Author

Listed:
  • Hashemi, Fariba

Abstract

The study is motivated by the observation that a striking convergence of real wages has taken place, among many countries now in the OECD. What drives this phenomenal convergence, and is the experience unique in recorded economic history? In order to quantify the process, we explore a novel representation for the dynamics in evolving wage distributions and hypothesize that the growth distribution of wages can be generated by a single stochastic process in which the logarithm of the quantity in question follows a Brownian motion. A linear stochastic model driven by white Gaussian noise is presented, to describe the dynamics of the cross-country distribution of real wages. The model is mechanical and descriptive in nature. It provides a useful way to summarize wage distribution dynamics in a way that is usable for models that focus on underlying microbehavior of labor markets. An empirical application to the evolution of the distribution of real wages across global labor markets going back to the 19th century validates the proposed model and suggests that diffusion may be a preferable technique for the analysis of dynamics in labor markets.

Suggested Citation

  • Hashemi, Fariba, 2013. "On the dynamics of convergence in cross-country incomes," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 394-404.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:30:y:2013:i:c:p:394-404
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2012.08.026
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264999312002684
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econmod.2012.08.026?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 search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Williamson Jeffrey G., 1995. "The Evolution of Global Labor Markets since 1830: Background Evidence and Hypotheses," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 141-196, April.
    2. Armen A. Alchian, 1950. "Uncertainty, Evolution, and Economic Theory," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 58(3), pages 211-211.
    3. Olivier Jean Blanchard & Lawrence F. Katz, 1992. "Regional Evolutions," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 23(1), pages 1-76.
    4. Barro, Robert J & Sala-i-Martin, Xavier, 1997. "Technological Diffusion, Convergence, and Growth," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 1-26, March.
    5. Abramovitz, Moses, 1986. "Catching Up, Forging Ahead, and Falling Behind," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(2), pages 385-406, June.
    6. Friedman, Milton, 1992. "Do Old Fallacies Ever Die?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 30(4), pages 2129-2132, December.
    7. Hirshleifer, Jack, 1977. "Economics from a Biological Viewpoint," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 20(1), pages 1-52, April.
    8. De Long, J Bradford, 1988. "Productivity Growth, Convergence, and Welfare: Comment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(5), pages 1138-1154, December.
    9. Jeffrey D. Sachs & Andrew Warner, 1995. "Economic Reform and the Process of Global Integration," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 26(1, 25th A), pages 1-118.
    10. Hirshleifer, J, 1978. "Competition, Cooperation, and Conflict in Economics and Biology," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 68(2), pages 238-243, May.
    11. Robert J. Shiller, 1992. "Market Volatility," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262691515, April.
    12. Robert E. Lucas, 2009. "Trade and the Diffusion of the Industrial Revolution," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 1-25, January.
    13. Baumol, William J, 1986. "Productivity Growth, Convergence, and Welfare: What the Long-run Data Show," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(5), pages 1072-1085, December.
    14. Williamson, Jeffrey G., 1996. "Globalization, Convergence, and History," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 56(2), pages 277-306, June.
    15. David K Levine, 2009. "Is Behavioral Economics Doomed?," Levine's Working Paper Archive 814577000000000274, David K. Levine.
    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. Li, Kui-Wai & Zhou, Xianbo & Pan, Zhewen, 2016. "Cross-country output convergence and growth: Evidence from varying coefficient nonparametric method," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 32-41.
    2. Caviglia-Harris, Jill & Sills, Erin & Bell, Andrew & Harris, Daniel & Mullan, Katrina & Roberts, Dar, 2016. "Busting the Boom–Bust Pattern of Development in the Brazilian Amazon," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 82-96.
    3. OlaOluwa S. Yaya & Fumitaka Furuoka & Kiew Ling Pui & Ray Ikechukwu Jacob & Chinyere M. Ezeoke, 2020. "Investigating Asian regional income convergence using Fourier Unit Root test with Break," International Economics, CEPII research center, issue 161, pages 120-129.

    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. Jeffrey G. Williamson, 1998. "Globalization, Labor Markets and Policy Backlash in the Past," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(4), pages 51-72, Fall.
    2. O'Rourke, Kevin H. & Williamson, Jeffrey G., 1997. "Around the European periphery 1870–1913: Globalization, schooling and growth," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(2), pages 153-190, August.
    3. Greasley, David & Oxley, Les, 1998. "Comparing British and American Economic and Industrial Performance 1860-1993: A Time Series Perspective," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 171-195, April.
    4. Alan M. Taylor, 1996. "On the Costs of Inward-Looking Development: Historical Perspectives on Price Distortions, Growth, and Divergence in Latin American from 1930s - 1980s," NBER Working Papers 5432, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Magrini, Stefano, 2004. "Regional (di)convergence," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: J. V. Henderson & J. F. Thisse (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 62, pages 2741-2796, Elsevier.
    6. Alan M. Taylor, 1995. "Growth and Convergence in the Asia-Pacific Region: On the Role of Openness, Trade and Migration," NBER Working Papers 5276, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Miguel Lebre de Freitas, 2006. "Portugal–EU Convergence Revisited: Evidence for the Period 1960–2003," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 12(3), pages 408-418, August.
    8. Di Vaio, Gianfranco & Enflo, Kerstin, 2011. "Did globalization drive convergence? Identifying cross-country growth regimes in the long run," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(6), pages 832-844, August.
    9. Landon-Lane, John S. & Robertson, Peter E., 2009. "Long-run growth in the OECD: A test of the parallel growth paths hypothesis," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 346-355, July.
    10. Charles I. Jones, 1997. "On the Evolution of the World Income Distribution," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 19-36, Summer.
    11. Taylor, Alan M., 1999. "Sources of convergence in the late nineteenth century," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(9), pages 1621-1645, October.
    12. Gianfranco Di Vaio & Kerstin Enflo, 2009. "Did Globalization Lead to Segmentation? Identifying Cross-Country Growth Regimes in the Long-Run," Discussion Papers 09-08, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics.
    13. Andrea Bonilla BOLAÑOS, 2017. "Are South American Countries Really Converging?: The Influence of the Region's Integration Projects," Journal for Economic Forecasting, Institute for Economic Forecasting, vol. 0(3), pages 130-149, September.
    14. Crafts, Nicholas & O’Rourke, Kevin Hjortshøj, 2014. "Twentieth Century Growth*This research has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) / ERC grant agreement no. 249546.," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 6, pages 263-346, Elsevier.
    15. Kadigi, Reuben M.J. & Robinson, Elizabeth & Szabo, Sylvia & Kangile, Joseph & Mgeni, Charles P. & De Maria, Marcello & Tsusaka, Takuji & Nhau, Brighton, 2022. "Revisiting the Solow-Swan model of income convergence in the context of coffee producing and re-exporting countries in the world," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 115636, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    16. Alan M. Taylor, 1996. "International Capital Mobility in History: Purchasing-Power Parity in the Long Run," NBER Working Papers 5742, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Alan M. Taylor, 1996. "International Capital Mobility in History: The Saving-Investment Relationship," NBER Working Papers 5743, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Perilla Jimenez, Juan, 2022. "Income per-capita across-countries," MERIT Working Papers 2022-033, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    19. de la Fuente, Angel, 1997. "The empirics of growth and convergence: A selective review," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 23-73, January.
    20. Hadass, Yael S & Williamson, Jeffrey G, 2003. "Terms-of-Trade Shocks and Economic Performance, 1870-1940: Prebisch and Singer Revisited," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 51(3), pages 629-656, April.

    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:eee:ecmode:v:30:y:2013:i:c:p:394-404. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/30411 .

    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.