Convergencia absoluta y condicional en el crecimiento económico de los países. Evidencia empírica para 1950-2014

Abstract

The hypotheses of absolute and conditional convergence in the cross-country growth of product per worker (instead of the more usual product per capita) were tested using different estimation methods with data from the Penn World Table 9.0, for the period 1950-2014 and different subperiods. In contrast to the empirical evidence referring to the last century, absolute convergence is found for the period 2000-2014, even excluding China.

The conditional convergence hypothesis is not rejected for the period 1970-2014 and is rejected only for the 1980s. The rates of accumulation of physical and human capital are important determinants of growth and they are instrumental in narrowing the gap with developed countries.

Finally, it is verified that Argentina and South America also reduced their gap with developed countries in 2000-2014.