Does trade liberalization accelerate convergence in per capita incomes in developing countries?

Abstract

The objectives of this paper are to examine whether trade and/or financial liberalization have resulted in the acceleration or deceleration of convergence of per capita real incomes in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Data for 14 Asian countries, 30 African countries and 20 Latin American countries are available, some of which never liberalized during the period 1970–1999. The panel data methodology and the concepts of beta-convergence and sigma-convergence are used for each of the regions. The study concludes that liberalization has accelerated convergence in real per capita incomes to their regional income levels for Asian and Latin American economies while for African countries, liberalization seems to have diverged real per capita incomes from its mean level.