Resumen de A proposal to empirically evaluate the sensitivity of the speed of convergence in the EU

Sonia de Lucas Santos, Inmaculada Álvarez Ayuso, María Jesús Delgado Rodríguez

• This article presents an innovative methodology to empirically evaluate the response of the rate of convergence in the neoclassical growth model to changes in the conditional factors. We apply this method to test the sensitivity of the speed of convergence in the EU-15 during the period 1980-2002 to increases in human and public capital. The analysis proposes two scenarios of convergence:

  the first one will make it possible to estimate the effect on the speed of convergence arising from changes in the instruments in the EU as a whole; and a second scenario where the effect on the speed of convergence resulting from changes in each one of the countries is considered separately. In this way an attempt will be made to identify not only the potential of various public policies to influence European convergence, but also the role they may play in each country toward achieving convergence in the EU.