Do Economies Converge? Evidence From a Panel of U.S. States
研究美国48个州的经济是否趋同，发现各州快速趋同但水平差异大，表明要素和技术在州间高度流动。
This paper investigates whether the forty-eight contiguous U.S. states converge and, if so, whether convergence is absolute. Economies are shown to converge if, and only if, technology is stationary around a common trend. If convergence does occur, it is unlikely to be absolute unless the economy fixed effects in technology, capital's share, and the rental rate vanish. Examining data on the level of technology, capital's share, and the rental rate provides strong evidence that the continuous U.S. states converge rapidly to levels that are far apart. The rapidity of convergence suggests that factors and technology are highly mobile across the contiguous U.S. states. Copyright 1996 by MIT Press.