Abstract
Inter-country convergence in growth of per capita gross domestic product or labor productivity is an important phenomenon that attracted the researchers in economics recently. This paper examines the convergence of the indicators related to the quality of life rather than income or productivity. In this connection the paper follows the straightforward approach to test inter-country convergence on the basis of a very simple test that relates rate of growth of an indicator with the initial value of that indicator. The convergence tests for the indicators reflecting quality of life of human beings, such as, infant survival rate, life expectancy at birth, adult literacy rate, calorie intake as percentage of requirement for the full sample as well as for low income and middle income groups indicate that in all the cases for all the indicators divergence has been observed while for the high income group no definite indication has been observed. Divergence also has been observed for per capita real gross domestic product for the full sample as well as for the sample drawn from the low and the middle income groups. The sample drawn from the high income group shows convergence in this respect.
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Mazumdar, K. (2002). Divergence and Convergence of International Development. In: Glatzer, W. (eds) Rich and Poor. Social Indicators Research Series, vol 15. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0257-8_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0257-8_5
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