IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/1333.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

A test of the international convergence hypothesis using panel data

Author

Listed:
  • Loayza, Norman V.
  • DEC

Abstract

The author, using a neoclassical Solow model, estimates an economy's rate of convergence to its own steady state. Using panel date for a sample of 98 countries, the author applies Chamberlain's (1984) estimation procedures to account for the presence of country-specific effects resulting from idiosyncratic unobservable factors. This procedure also prevents the estimation bias due to measurement error in the Gross Domestic Product. Controlling, additionally, for the country's level of education, the author estimates the rate of convergence to be 0.0494, which implies a half-life of about 14 years. This estimated rate of convergence is about two and a half times higher than those obtained by Barro and Salai-Martin (1992) and Makiw, Romer, and Weil (1992). The author claims that those estimates are biased toward zero because they fail to account for country specific effects. Finally, the author estimates the capital share in production to be 0.374, which is very close to the accepted benchmark value.

Suggested Citation

  • Loayza, Norman V. & DEC, 1994. "A test of the international convergence hypothesis using panel data," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1333, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:1333
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/1994/08/01/000009265_3970716141517/Rendered/PDF/multi0page.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Aiello, Francesco & Scoppa, Vincenzo, 2008. "Convergence and Regional Productivity Divide in Italy: Evidence from Panel Data," MPRA Paper 17343, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Lant Pritchett, 1997. "Divergence, Big Time," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 3-17, Summer.
    3. Markus Eberhardt & Francis Teal, 2011. "Econometrics For Grumblers: A New Look At The Literature On Cross‐Country Growth Empirics," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 109-155, February.
    4. Martín-Mayoral, Fernando, 2008. "¿Existe convergencia entre los países de América Latina? [Exist convergence across Latinamerican countries]," MPRA Paper 16039, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Fajnzylber, Pablo & Lederman, Daniel, 1999. "Economic reforms and total factor productivity growth in Latin America and the Caribbean (1950-95) - an empirical note," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2114, The World Bank.
    6. Easterly, William & Loayza, Norman & Montiel, Peter, 1997. "Has Latin America's post-reform growth been disappointing?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(3-4), pages 287-311, November.
    7. Eftimoski, Dimitar, 2022. "On the inconclusive effect of human capital on growth: A new look at extended specifications," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 708-727.
    8. Fernanda Llussa, 2007. "Cross-country analyses of economic growth: an econometric survey," Nova SBE Working Paper Series wp518, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Nova School of Business and Economics.
    9. Fernanda Llussa, 2007. "Geography matters more: geographical and institutional determinants of income in Brazilian states," Nova SBE Working Paper Series wp517, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Nova School of Business and Economics.
    10. Rui Hao, 2011. "Sources of income differences across Chinese provinces during the reform period: a development accounting exercise," CERDI Working papers halshs-00557001, HAL.
    11. Gotor, Elisabetta & Tsigas, Marinos E., 2006. "Effects of EU Sugar Trade Reforms on Poor Households in Africa: A General Equilibrium Analysis Presentation," Conference papers 331507, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    12. Faiza A. Khan, 2014. "Economic Convergence in the African Continent: Closing the Gap," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 82(3), pages 354-370, September.
    13. Felipe, Jesus., 2006. "A decade of debate about the sources of growth in East Asia. How much do we know about why some countries grow faster than others?/Una década de debate sobre las fuentes del crecimiento en el Este Asi," Estudios de Economia Aplicada, Estudios de Economia Aplicada, vol. 24, pages 181-220, Abril.
    14. Dilara Kýlýnç & Ý. Hakan Yetkiner, 2013. "Does Gender Matter for Economic Convergence? The OECD Evidence," Working Papers 1302, Izmir University of Economics.
    15. Vinish Kathuria & Rajesh Raj Natarajan, 2013. "Is Manufacturing an Engine of Growth in India in the Post-Nineties?," Journal of South Asian Development, , vol. 8(3), pages 385-408, December.

    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:wbk:wbrwps:1333. 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: Roula I. Yazigi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dvewbus.html .

    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.