An alternative test to check the validity of convergence results

Abstract

This article presents a simple method for identifying distributional dynamic properties of economies using the ideas of concordance and discordance. It can be employed to examine the strength and validity of the results of other methods. The method has the advantage of comparing distributions at two points without relying on intermediary data between the two time points. We present results that suggest there is more ‘strong-divergence’ than ‘strong-convergence’ in GDP between countries over the time period 1960 to 2000 although the distribution exhibits both convergent and divergent characteristics.

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank David Allen and Sam Perlo-Freeman for their helpful comments.