Analysis of GDP per Capita Convergence Speed in the Member States of the European Union

Abstract

The economic convergence of the European Union countries is a result that we expect to be achieved by relying on Solow's neoclassical growth model. This article presents the analysis results of convergence speed in terms of GDP per inhabitant of the European Union individual states. The analyses are carried out on the convergence, in order to highlight the impact of pandemic caused by the COVID 19 compared to the global economic and financial crisis of 2008. The existence of convergence of GDP per capita is confirm by the results obtain in the countries from the sample studied, members of European Union, in the studied period. The speed of convergence, after the 2008 crisis, is significantly reduced, but the emergence of Covid 19 pandemic does not significantly influence the speed of convergence although the results are incipient.

Keywords

• convergence
• gdp per capita
• speed of convergence
• covid 19 pandemic
• economic and financial crise