Title: Empirical evidence on convergence across the PIIGS member states of the Euro-zone

Authors: Eleni F. Katsouli; Anastasios V. Katos

Addresses: Department of Applied Informatics, University of Macedonia, 156 Egnatia Street, 540 06 Thessaloniki, Greece ' Department of Applied Informatics, University of Macedonia, 156 Egnatia Street, 540 06 Thessaloniki, Greece

Abstract: This paper investigates unconditional convergence of major economic variables across the Euro-zone member states of Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain over the last 30 years. The criteria used for investigating convergence are β-convergence, σ-convergence, and time-series-convergence. The findings show that the unemployment rate, the budget deficit, and the general government gross debt do not converge, but the GDP growth rate, the labour productivity growth rate, the prices inflation rate, and the wages inflation rate converge across the five Euro-zone member states. The findings show that the speed of convergence varies depending on the period of under review (the pre-Maastricht Treaty decade, the post-Maastricht Treaty decade, and the decade after the initiation of the Euro-zone).

Keywords: unconditional convergence; beta-convergence; sigma-convergence; time series convergence; Eurozone; Portugal; Ireland; Italy; Greece; Spain; unemployment rate; budget deficit; government gross debt; GDP growth rate; labour productivity growth; price inflation; wage inflation; government debt.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSE.2014.063183

International Journal of Sustainable Economy, 2014 Vol.6 No.3, pp.230 - 242

Received: 15 Nov 2013
Accepted: 11 Feb 2014

Published online: 26 Jul 2014 *

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