Economic Convergence in the European Union

Ling Yin () and George K. Zestos ()
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Ling Yin: Jiangnan University, Postal: School of Business Southern Yangtze University, Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, 21063 PR China
George K. Zestos: Christopher Newport University, Postal: Dept. of Economics and Finance Christopher Newport, University, University Place, Newport News, VA 23606, USA

Journal of Economic Integration, 2003, vol. 18, 188-213

Abstract:

Starting with the Treaty of Rome (1957), the European Union adopted common policies to promote “harmonious economic development and balanced expansion.” The paper investigates how successful such policies were, by examining whether there was economic convergence of the real per capita GDP in the EU. Two measures of convergence are employed. The first is σ, which is based on the cross standard deviation of the real per capita GDPs of the EU countries; the second is β convergence based on the neoclassical growth model. Both σ and β were estimated using EU data for the period 1960-1995. The empirical findings support the hypothesis of economic convergence within the EU except for the 1980-85 sub-period where weak divergence was indicated.

Keywords: Beta (β); Convergence; Sigma (σ) convergence; European Union; Nonlinear Least Squares (NLS); Seemingly Unrelated Regressions(SUR) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C10 C30 F15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (25)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:integr:0231

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