Are Caribbean countries diverging or converging? evidence from spatial econometrics

CRAIGWELL, ROLAND and MAURIN, ALAIN (2011): Are Caribbean countries diverging or converging? evidence from spatial econometrics. Published in: Journal of Business, Finance and Economics in Emerging Economies , Vol. 6, No. 1 (2011): pp. 161-206.

Abstract

After gaining political independence from the European countries and the United States, the Caribbean Basin economies have at the end of the 2000s display considerable differences in income and living standards. In this paper the concepts of convergence are used to examine whether disparities in per capita GDP of selected countries in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) have tended to diminish or not. It was shown, based on descriptive statistical methods, and spatial statistical and econometric tests of beta-convergence and sigma-convergence that there was an absence of convergence for CARICOM countries since the early 1980s. This is so even in the OECS group which are linked in a quasi monetary union framework.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Spacial Economics, Caribbean, Convergence
• Subjects: O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development; C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C0 - General; F - International Economics > F4 - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance > F41 - Open Economy Macroeconomics

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