Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: We examine the record of cross-country growth over the past fifty years and ask if developing countries have made progress on closing the income gap between their per capita incomes and those in the advanced economies. We conclude that, as a group, they have not and then survey the literature on absolute convergence with particular emphasis on that from the last decade or so. That literature supports our conclusion of a lack of progress in closing the income gap between countries. We close with a brief examination of the recent literature on cross-individual distribution of income, which finds that despite the lack of progress on cross country convergence, global inequality has tended to fall since 2000. ( JEL E01, E13, O11, O47, F41, F62)
Source: Journal of Economic Literature
DOI: 10.1257/jel.20181207
Authors: Paul Johnson, Chris Papageorgiou
Institutions: Vassar College, International Monetary Fund
Language: English
Subfield: Economics and Econometrics
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Reduced inequalities
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2901961682