期刊名称:Topics in Middle Eastern and North African Economies
出版年度:2011
卷号:13
期号:1
出版社:Loyola University Chicago
摘要:The aim of this paper is to examine the issue convergence of per capita income of North Africa countries to the per capita income level of countries in Southern Europe. We have applied tests of sigma-convergence and polynomial beta-convergence of Chatterji to assess convergence. We have applied the multiple endogenous breaks test advocated by Bai & Perron (2003) in order to evaluate the sigma-convergence hypothesis. According to our results, the process of sigma-convergence is not uniform over time. There exists a movement of convergence of per capita income of NA countries towards the income level of countries of Southern Europe during the period 1980-1984. The estimate of convergence clubs can refine the results for countries that have started catching up. This test rejects the hypothesis of beta-convergence on the whole period (1980-2007). If the model is estimated for each country, then there is a movement of beta-convergence only for Tunisia and Morocco on the period 1985-2000.On the other sub-periods, the assumption of divergence is accepted. The per capita income level of countries of Southern Europe does not seem to be a target toward which converge the countries of the NA region in the long term
关键词:convergence club- sigma-convergence- beta-convergence- North Africa