The question of economic convergence - first part

Full text available online 23 January 2008

Abstract

Real convergence is an essential objective of Romania’s integration into the EU. Bridging the development gaps between Romania and the EU as soon as possible cannot be achieved exclusively through market forces, since they rather tend to cause divergence and polarization. For this purpose, special tools and mechanisms are required; e.g., cohesion. The study deals with the economic convergence of the European countries, and especially the convergence of the CEE countries, including Romania. Models are used to assess the economic growth, approximate the period of real convergence of Romania to the EU, as well as to estimate the s- and ß-convergence, and the main shortcomings of the last indicator. The first part comprises a survey on the subject and some theoretical aspects.

Keywords: Real convergence, divergence, cohesion, club convergence, polarization, regression method, return to capital, s-convergence, ß-convergence

JEL Classification: C42, C52, F15, F43, O19, O41, O57