Revisiting Global Income Convergence in the 21st Century

This paper revisits the debate on income convergence between poor and rich countries. I challenge the view that there is little to no catch-up, and that changes in total factor productivity (TFP) drives cross-country income differences. Since 2000, income levels in poor countries have converged with rich countries at 0.8% annually, rising to 1.5% when excluding Sub-Saharan Africa. A growth accounting exercise incorporating capital income share heterogeneity shows that most convergence since 1980, and over half since 2000 outside Sub-Saharan Africa, results from convergence in physical and human capital inputs rather than TFP.