TESTING FOR FISCAL CONVERGENCE IN THE EU COUNTRIES
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Authors:
• Oana Cristina POPOVICI, email: oana.c.popovici@gmail.com , Afiliation: Institute for Economic Forecasting, NIER, Romanian Academy
• Adrian Cantemir CALIN, email: cantemircalin@gmail.com , Afiliation: Institute for Economic Forecasting, NIER, Romanian AcademyPages:
• 62|73 -
Keywords: fiscal convergence, β convergence, panel data, European Union
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Abstract:
This paper tests for the presence of fiscal convergence in 27 EU countries during 1995-2012. We use the methodology proposed for β convergence in order to check for similarities and divergences between the old and the new EU member states as regards the convergence speed. We are also interested if the pace of convergence was maintained during the whole period or if there are differences between the years 1990s and 2000s. The panel data model is used in order to analyse the convergence on groups of countries and time periods. The results point to the existence of the fiscal convergence process in both the old and the new EU member states, but with major differences depending on the period analysed.
