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The purpose of this paper is to examine global trajectories, dynamics, and tendencies of software piracy to ease the benchmarking of current efforts toward harmonizing the standards and enforcements of intellectual property rights (henceforth IPRs) protection worldwide.

For that purpose, the authors estimate dynamic panel data models for 99 countries over the period 1994-2010.

The main finding suggest that, a genuine timeframe for standardizing IPRs laws in the fight against software piracy is most feasible within a horizon of 4.3-10.4 years. In other words, full (100 percent) convergence within the specified timeframe will mean the enforcements of IPRs regimes without distinction of nationality or locality within identified fundamental characteristics of software piracy. The absence of convergence (in absolute and conditional terms) for the World panel indicates that, blanket policies may not be effective unless they are contingent on the prevailing trajectories, dynamics and tendencies of software piracy. Policy implications and caveats are also discussed.

It is the first attempt to empirically assess the convergence of IPRs systems across countries.

The main purpose of this paper is to analyze whether sufficient conditions can be met for Turkey and the Balkan and Caucasian Republics to achieve future integration within Europe because Turkey's accession to the European Union (EU) would provide opportunities for further enlargement of the Union toward the East. The paper is developed through three steps: In the first place we will select a group of countries belonging to the Southeastern Europe, Transcaucasia, and the Near-East, which could fulfill at medium term the requirements established by the European Councils of Copenhagen (1993), Madrid (1995), and Helsinki (1999) to be members of the EU in a future. Second, starting from the period 2000–2010, we estimate the possible existence of economic convergence in terms of real per capita income between these countries and the current EU at 27 members. Finally, we analyze whether the entrance of some of those countries in the EU could help to solve some local existing conflicts in the area, especially in the Middle-East.

For the above-mentioned purposes, first, we have selected potential candidates for a future adhesion to EU among the current official candidates, other countries that have already demanded the adhesion, and those other countries in the area for which the EU applies the neighborhood policy. We have selected these countries by using a multicriteria analysis. Second, following Quah (1996), we test the possible existence of several steady states in the EU at 27 members, and hence the possibility of Clubs Convergence in Europe. Also by using the Barro (1991) and Mankiw, Romer, and Weil (1992) models, we test Absolute and Conditional Economic Convergence among all EU-27 countries and between each potential candidate, weighted by surface and population, with the EU-27, during the period 2000–2010.

The obtained results indicate the existence of Clubs Convergence in EU-27 because at least there are two steady states. Multicriteria analysis indicates that the following countries fulfill the requirements of the EU at medium term: Macedonia, Albania, Serbia, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Lebanon. The convergence analysis indicates Conditional Convergence between the selected countries and the EU.

The research limitations are that this paper only considers countries belonging to this area. The EU expansion could solve conflicts in the European–Asian border, like Cyprus, Nagorno-Karabakh, Kurdish, and other Middle East conflicts. Lebanon is a country that clearly belongs to Asia, but notwithstanding it appears as a possible candidate to enter in the EU considering our multicriteria analysis.

The financial crisis starting in 2008 made many European countries opt for a change of exchange rate regime. The choice of price measure as an entry requirement to the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and as input in the monetary policy decision process re‐appeared as an important political and research issue. This paper aims to argue that, considering the importance of producer prices in international competition, their role is underplayed by policy makers and researchers.

Producer prices are analyzed in the transition from national exchange‐rate regimes to the EMU for 13 two‐digit manufacturing sectors in the first 11 countries to adopt the Euro.

It was found that significant price convergence before 1993‐1998, but no or modest evidence of convergence after 1998‐2005 when the Euro was introduced. This pattern is partly different from what prior studies have found for consumer prices, and is consistent with the change of exchange rate regime to a monetary union anchoring inflation rates. A conditional β‐convergence analysis reveals effective exchange‐rate changes and differences in cyclicality as important determinants of price convergence, suggesting that import of inflation is an important determinant of price developments in the EMU.

The paper concludes that considering the role of producer prices and their deviating pattern from consumer prices, producer prices are underplayed in the research and deserve more attention. It is argued that increased attention to producer prices is warranted.

Focusing monetary policymaking on consumer prices alone appears inefficient. Rather, then, support for the trade‐off approach in monetary policy‐making is supported.

In considering different solutions to the financial crisis, increasing attention should be paid to the development of producer prices.

This is the first study to focus on producer prices in the research on the transition from a national exchange rate regime to a membership of a monetary union.

The distribution dynamics of incomes across Indian states are examined using the entire income distribution. Unlike standard regression approaches, this approach allows us to identify specific distributional characteristics such as polarisation and stratification. The period between 1965 and 1997 exhibits the formation of two convergence clubs: one at 50% and another at 125% of the national average income. Income disparities across the states declined over the sixties and then increased from the seventies to the nineties. Conditioning exercises reveal that the formation of the convergence clubs is associated with the disparate distribution of macro-economic factors such as capital expenditure and fiscal deficits. In particular, capital expenditure, fiscal deficits and education expenditures are found to be associated with the formation of the upper convergence club.

The purpose of this paper is to answer one important question: in the aftermath of a systemic banking crisis, can the expected deviations in credit supply, liquidity, and other bank characteristics become entrenched in that they do not converge back to “normal”?

Using a panel data set of commercial banks in the Mercosur during the period 1990-2006, the authors analyze the impact of crises on four sets of financial indicators of bank behavior and outcomes – profitability, maturity preference, credit supply, and risk taking. The authors employ convergence methodology – which is often used in the growth literature – to identify the evolution of bank behavior in the region after crises.

A key finding of the paper is that bank risk-taking behavior is significantly modified leading to prolonged reduction of intermediation to the private sector in favor of less risky government securities and preference for high levels excess liquidity well after the crisis. This can be attributed to the role played by macroeconomic and institutional volatility that has nurtured a relatively high level of risk aversion in banks in the Mercosur.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, using convergence methodology is a relatively novel approach in this area. An added advantage of using this approach over others currently used in the literature is that the authors can empirically quantify the rate of convergence and the institutional and macroeconomic factors that condition the convergence. Moreover, the methodology allows one to identify – in some hierarchical order – factors that condition persistent deviation from “normality.” The lessons learned from the Mercosur case study are useful for countries that suffered systemic banking crises in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.

As an important engine of economic growth, the digital economy is bringing new opportunities for the promotion of entrepreneurship. However, key questions regarding the extent of the effect of the digital economy on entrepreneurship remain unanswered. This study examines how the digital economy influences entrepreneurship in China using provincial data from 2011–2020, applying convergence tests and spatial econometric models.

Based on theoretical analysis and using macro provincial data covering the period of 2011–2020, we adopt a diversified empirical analytical method and apply a combination of the convergence trend test, spatial auto correlation test, and spatial Durbin model to test the research hypotheses.

First, there is spatial correlation between the digital economy and entrepreneurship. Second, the overall trend of China’s digital economy shows s convergence, with the whole country and the eastern region showing absolute β convergence and the whole country as well as the central and western regions showing β conditional convergence. Third, the digital economy can significantly promote entrepreneurship and has spatial spillover effects. Moreover, higher education has a negative moderating effect on the process of digital economy empowering entrepreneurship.

Studying the spatially correlated impacts of the digital economy on entrepreneurship enhances our understanding of its contribution to economic growth. Policy-makers can use these findings to develop targeted digital infrastructure investments in lagging provinces, guide entrepreneurs to better grasp the opportunities of the digital economy, and provide support for innovation and entrepreneurship. The findings also could offer Chinese experience that can be used to guide developing countries in utilizing the digital economy to enable entrepreneurship.

This paper expands and enriches the analytical focus on digital economy-empowered entrepreneurship and complements the current theoretical research on the moderating effect of the digital economy in empowering entrepreneurship.

The main purpose of this paper is to examine the convergence hypothesis of House Price Index (HPI) in the case of 18 major Indian cities for the period 2014–2019.

To attain the authors main goal, this study applies a clustering algorithm advanced by Phillips and Sul. This test creates a club of convergence based on the growth of the cities in terms of HPI.

The study findings show the existence of two convergence clubs and one non-convergent group. Club 1 includes the cities with high HPI growth, whereas club 2 comprises of cities with least HPI growth. Cities belonging to the non-convergent group are neither converging nor diverging.

This study findings will benefit home buyers, sellers, investors, regulators and policymakers interested in the dynamic interlinkages of house price (HP) among Indian cities.

The majority of the studies are conducted in the case of China at the province or city levels. Furthermore, in the case of India, none of the studies has investigated the HP club convergence across Indian cities. Therefore, the present study fills this research gap by examining the HP club convergence across Indian cities.

As hypothesized by Gerschenkron (1962), lower income countries would tend to grow at a faster rate than higher income countries and, as a result, their average incomes would converge in the long run. In addition to that hypothesis, theoretical studies to assess the impact of globalization on international economic convergence remain ambiguous. To address both the issues simultaneously, this study attempts to analyze the trend and possible association between the two, i.e., cross-country per capita income differential and globalization. This study incorporates a long list of countries (160 Countries) for a fairly long period of time (from 1990 to 2019). As expected, the study found a steady rise in global trade to GDP ratio, indicating a rising level of globalization in the assessment period. In addition to that, the study also found a rising level of average cross-country per capita real GDP (based on purchasing power parity (PPP)) differential in the given time horizon, contradicting Gerschenkron hypothesis. Finally, applying the ARDL bounds testing procedure, the study finds that cross-country per capita income differential and globalization are cointegrated; and the net effect of globalization on income differential is positive. Therefore, given the data, the study concludes that, over the years, along with rising level of globalization, per capita income differential diverges which causes cross-country per capita income inequality to rise.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically test the economic convergence that operate between five selected Asian countries (namely Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia). In particular, it seeks to investigate how increased economic integration has impacted the inter-country income levels among the five founding members of ASEAN.

A new Machine Learning (ML) approach is applied along with a panel data analysis (GMM), and the application of KOF Globalization Index.

The Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) results highlight that the endogenous growth theory seems to be supported for the selected Asian countries, indicating evidence of diverging forces resulting from unequal growth and polarization dynamics. Overcoming the technical issues raised by the econometric approach, the new ML algorithm brings contrasted but interesting results. Using the KOF Globalization Index, the authors confirm how the last phase of globalization set the conditions for an economic convergence among sample members.

Using the KOF Globalization Index, the authors confirm how the last phase of globalization set the conditions for an economic convergence among sample members. As a matter of fact, the new LSTM algorithm has provided consistent evidence supporting the existence of converging forces. In fact, the results highlighted the effectiveness of the experiments and the algorithm we chose. The high predictability of the authors’ model and the absence of self-alignment in the values showed a convergence be-tween the economies.

The purpose of this paper is to use quarterly time series data from Canada and the Canadian provinces to determine if the unemployment rates in the Canadian provinces are converging to the national rate of unemployment.

First, the authors check for existence of stochastic convergence using recent unit root statistics, see Perron and Rodríguez (2003) and Rodríguez (2007). Second, the authors verify existence of convergence using methods proposed by Volgelsang (1998) and Bai and Perron (1998, 2003). All these methods allows for structural break(s) in the data.

Results from different unit root tests, without and with structural breaks, confirm that stochastic convergence exists in all provinces. The other results show strong evidence that deterministic convergence exists and the unemployment rates of the Canadian provinces are converging to the unemployment rate of Canada. This conclusion is stronger when multiple breaks are allowed in the trend function using the approach of Bai and Perron (1998, 2003).

Since the authors have verified the existence of stochastic convergence, any intervention in the labor markets of the Canadian provinces to control the provincial unemployment rate would have a temporary effect and these policies will not have a permanent influence on the unemployment rates. However, existence of β-convergence in the Canadian provinces shows that general policies toward lowering the national unemployment rate would decrease the provincial unemployment rates as well.

To the best of the knowledge, the paper attempts to study the unemployment rate convergence in the Canadian provinces using the above-mentioned approaches. These approaches allow the authors to take into consideration the possibility of structural breaks in order to get results that are more accurate.