Agricultural productivity growth in the Euro-Med region: is there evidence of convergence?

This paper measures agricultural productivity growth by means of the sequential Malmquist Total Factor Productivity (TFP) index among a set of 32 West European, Central and East European (CEE), and Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) countries for the period 1961-2002. In a second stage, the authors also investigate whether this measure is converging among these countries by employing cross-sectional tests for absolute and conditional beta-convergence as well as for club convergence. The results suggest that, despite the fact that the CEE and MENA countries have exhibited a high rate of productivity growth since the 1990s, absolute convergence cannot be confirmed. Evidence for conditional convergence is still found and the formation of two separate clubs of countries that converge to different equilibrium points is identified.