Economic Growth and Convergence in Germany
Author | : Bernhard Herz |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : |
Release | : 2007 |
ISBN-10 | : OCLC:1291169058 |
ISBN-13 | : |
Rating | : 4/5 (58 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: The empirical analysis gives clear evidence of regional convergence in West Germany: poorer regions tend to grow faster than richer ones. In the period 1957-88, the speed of convergence was around 4 percent per year, implying a halving of the difference between actual and steady-state income every 16 years. While our empirical findings on convergence are of a similar magnitude as found by studies for the US and Europe by Barro and Sala-i-Martin (1991) and Mankiw et al. (1990), they indicate however a somewhat faster speed of adjustment for Germany. Also the pattern of a deceleration of the speed of convergence in recent years is similar to the developments found in these two regions (Barro and Sala-i-Martin 1991).