New panel data evidence of human development convergence from 1975 to 2005

Abstract

This paper studies the possibility of human development convergence in the world from 1975 through 2005. Human development is measured by the Human Development Index (HDI) trend, and convergence across countries is tested for by the panel data approach of Ben-David (1993) and bootstrap critical values. Similar analysis is performed on the members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and on the European Union (EU) countries too. Moreover, it is also tested whether low human development countries had been converging to high human development countries, less rich OECD countries to rich OECD countries, and whether those countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007 had been converging to those member states that joined the EU earlier. The results suggest that in each case, the general rise of HDI was accompanied by convergence.