Descriptive Analyses of the Dependent Variables

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the empirical patterns of cross-national policy similarity and convergence for the 20 OECD countries and regions in our sample. Basically the concept of policy convergence rests on a comparison of policy changes across a number of countries. In this study measurement of convergence refers to σ (sigma)-convergence, which is generally measured as changes in absolute similarity between two points in time. Because our analysis rests on dyads (see Section 5.2), convergence means increasing policy convergence between pairs of countries between predefined points in time. Thereby to control for saturation effects, dyads that have been completely similar at the previous time point are excluded from the calculation for the following period. Consequently, only those dyads which newly and commonly implemented policies are included in the analysis, so that we only measure actual increases in similarity. In our study, convergence starts in the year 2000 since we need the values of 1996 as the reference points or benchmarks for the calculation of convergence and to single out saturation effects. In doing so, we calculate the differences in changes on the basis of absolute similarity between t₀ and t₁; or formulated in mathematical terms:

$$C{{P}_{x}}\Delta {{t}_{{1;AB}}}=S{{P}_{{x,}}}{{t}_{{1;AB}}}-S{{P}_{{x,}}}{{t}_{{0;AB}}}$$

((6.1))

where CP_x denotes convergence of policy x; SP_X, t₁ (t₀) similarity at time t₁(t₀) and Δt₁ is the period between t₀ und t₁.