Is There Convergence Across Countries? A Spatial Approach
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divergence
semiglobalization
regional integration
trade blocks
minimum volume ellipsoid (MVE)
Business Intelligence
Demography, Population, and Ecology
International Business
Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods
Work, Economy and Organizations
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Abstract
We analyze convergence across countries over the last half century as a result of globalizing forces. Drawing on theories of modernization, dependency, the world-system, political trade blocs, and the world-society, we consider economic, demographic, knowledge, financial, and political dimensions of convergence. Using a new methodology, we calculate the minimum volume ellipsoid encompassing different groupings of countries, finding that during the 1960–2009 period, countries have not evolved significantly closer or similar to one another, although groups of countries based on their core-periphery status or membership in trade blocs exhibit increasing internal convergence and divergence between one another.