Do Globalization Indices for 141 Countries Converge Over Time?
Gachon Center of Convergence Research Working Paper Series, 2019-01
35 Pages Posted: 13 Mar 2019 Last revised: 1 Sep 2019
Date Written: February 20, 2019
Abstract
Countries through the world have experienced increased globalization over the last several decades facilitated by reduced cost of transportation and communication and more recently by more rapid deployment of information technologies. However, a globalization gap exists dividing those countries with greater globalization from those countries with less globalization.
Therefore, the two major questions of this research are: first, whether countries with low level of globalization in early years have been increasing their globalization effects faster to catch-up to the leading countries? Second, does dispersion of globalization index among countries has been reduced over time?
Because of the multidimensional nature of globalization, we use four KOF indices of globalization for 141 countries during the period of 1991 to 2013. Our results show statistically valid speeds of catch-up and dispersion reduction for all four dimensions of globalization for the total group of countries as well as for the subgroups of countries categorized by income and region. However, speeds of catch-up and dispersion reduction vary significantly by respective globalization indices and subgroups of countries.
Implications from these findings will be discussed.
Keywords: KOF globalization indices, Overall index, Economic index, Political index, Social index, Sigma convergence, Gamma convergence
JEL Classification: F60, F64
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation