Additional Empirical Evidence on Real Convergence: A Fractionally Integrated Approach

This article examines the real convergence hypothesis in 15 OECD countries. For this purpose, we examine the order of integration of the real GDP per capita series in these countries as well as their differences with respect to the US which is used as a benchmark country. We use both parametric and semiparametric methods and the results show that convergence is only achieved in half of the countries, namely, Austria, Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Japan and the UK. On the contrary, the results for Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden show strong evidence against this hypothesis.