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Technology, convergence, and growth in the European Union

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Abstract

This paper contains an empirical analysis of growth and convergence in the European Union using a cross-country data set covering the period 1950–92. It seeks an answer to the question why some countries in Europe manage to catch up, while others, most notably the poorest ones, apparently do not. The empirical evidence provided in the paper points to several responsible factors. The distance of the economy to the technological leader differed across economies, which contributed to differences in convergence and growth behavior. In addition, the finding of conditional convergence implies that economies converge to different steady state levels of income per capita. Poor economies, like Portugal, Greece, Spain, and Ireland, presumably converge to a lower steady state level of income per capita, which leads to persistent differences in income per capita.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Towson State University, USA

    Christian Schmidt

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  1. Christian Schmidt
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Funding for this project was provided in part by the Securities Industry Foundation for Economic Education, the Council on Economic Education in Maryland, and the Towson State University Faculty Development and Research Committee.

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Schmidt, C. Technology, convergence, and growth in the European Union. International Advances in Economic Research 2, 255–269 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02295253

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