In what sense Regional Convergence? A case study for the Prefecture of Greece 1970-2000

Abstract

This paper explicitly seeks to confront theory with fact regarding regional convergence taking the prefectures of Greece as a case study. The maίn question to be tackled ίη this paper is whether prefectures of Greece converge under conditions of s or b-convergence. The concept of s-convergence is approxίmated empirically by the measures of standard deviation, coefficient of variation and the Herfindahl ratio. The techniques proposed by Baumol and subsequently by Friedman are used for the assessment of b-convergence. The empirical assessment is carried out for the period 1970 to 2000. Empirical results reject the hypothesis of b-convergence, while provide support to s-convergence.