Regional Convergence in Knowledge-based Economy

Abstract

Nowadays, the world economies are rapidly moving towards being more Knowledge-based Economy (KBE) and supporting the force of knowledge as a vital component of economic growth. This recent acceleration in the transition to Knowledge-based Economy in the world, has affected regional economic performance. In this paper, we surveyed the regional convergence in Knowledge-based Economy for selected Asia and pacific countries. We used a growth model in Barro and Sala-i-Martin framework (1995) for the period of 1995-2009. It includes a panel data set consisting of the annual growth rate of GDP per capita for selected Asia and pacific countries and a group of indicators that define the situation of Knowledge-based Economy in countries. The empirical results indicate that the absolute and the conditional convergence are not rejected for selected countries. The investigation on robustness of the model results confirms the existence of regional convergence for studied countries. JEL Classification : F15, P25, D83