The Poorest might catch up: Convergence vs. Pseudo-convergence

M. H. Suryanarayana and Mousumi Das ()
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Mousumi Das: Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research

Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers from Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India

Abstract: Public welfare policies in developing countries have a Rawlsian perspective; they seek to uplift the poor, the poorest of the poor in particular. Policies to enable the poor to catch up with the rich are generally two-fold, viz., inclusive growth, and redistributive (transfer) programmes. This paper proposes twin concepts and measures of convergence (I *) and pseudo-convergence (pseudo-I *) to characterize such outcomes. Unlike the conventional measures of convergence, they can contra-distinguish outcomes during economic growth as against decay. Illustrations based on estimates of per capita GDP and consumption across countries in the world show divergence and pseudo-divergence between 1993 and 2011.

Keywords: Convergence; Pseudo-convergence; Sigma-convergence; Beta-convergence; Rawls; Welfare (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C40 D63 E0 F00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 20 pages
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Working Paper: The 'Poorest Might Catch up': Convergence vs. Pseudo-convergence (2014)
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