INTEGRATION REGIONALE, EFFETS FRONTIERES ET CONVERGENCE OU DIVERGENCE

This article aims to analyze the implications of economic integration policies in the convergence or the divergence process among developing countries according to their regional membership. In other words, does or does not regional integration induce the intra- or inter-zone convergence? What could be the explanatory factors of such dynamics? On the one hand, this study implements a panel model of convergence that is differentiated between institutional integration areas. On the other hand, the method of critical level localization that identifies the different trends of growth enables us to identify clubs of convergence endogenously. The results show that, first, regional agreements don't systematically imply a real economic convergence among the relevant zone; and secondly, that the conditional convergences are generally weak. Nevertheless, more than a decrease of tariff barriers, factors such as infrastructures, productive complementarity and the capacity of the leader countries to produce regional spillover effects appear to be more determining than an increase in customs tariffs in the process of regional convergence. Finally, the positive of the border-effect (regional proximity market) on income growth doesn't necessarily imply a reinforcement of the convergence, particularly in the case of African economies.