A new approach for β-convergence estimation in Italy

In this paper we test the presence of β-convergence among Italian regions, in the period 1980-2003, in presence of a trend break in the series following a new approach (Vogelsang and Tomljanovich, 2002). The break year is considered either known (1992) and endogenously estimated from the data. When we consider a known trend break date model the results evidence the presence of a convergence process for most of the Italian regions in the considered period. The outcome relative to the unknown break date model, on the contrary, strongly depend on the econometric model used to estimate the β-convergence.