全球经济学杂志

The paper examines the evolution of income per capita for a sample of high-income transition countries in the period 1991-2007. The analysis focuses on the dynamics of income per capita convergence throughout the period. We review patterns of income dispersion in Central Europe in a historical perspective and examine the dynamics of convergence over time. We present the model of beta and sigma convergence in augmented Solow model with human capital accumulation. Our evidence suggests that high-income transition countries experienced a period of robust convergence as the income per capita differential, relative to the U.S level, diminished substantially over time. The increase in the stock of human capital contributed substantially to the speed of real convergence.

Microfinance is gathering momentum to become a significant force in India. The Self Help Group (SHG) model with bank lending to groups of (often) poor women without collateral has become an accepted part of rural finance. The paper discusses the state of SHG-based microfinance in India and the opportunity untapped because of the huge existing demand-supply gap. With traditionally loss-making rural banks shifting their portfolio away from the rural poor in the post-reform period, SHG-based microfinance, nurtured and aided by NGOs, have become an important alternative to traditional lending in terms of reaching the poor without incurring a fortune in operating and monitoring costs. The government and NABARD have recognized this and have emphasized the SHG approach and working along with NGOs in its initiatives. In spite of the impressive figures, the supply side of microfinance in India is still presently grossly inadequate to fill the gap between demand and supply but it holds the promise to act as a great opportunity for the financial sector and the economy as a whole. This paper evaluates the different aspects of microfinance in Harda and Hoshangabad districts of MP.

In this note we empirically revise the task of tax convergence in the European Union, paying attention to the possible effects derived from the deep economic crisis. For this purpose, beta and sigma convergence are estimated for the period 1965-2010 from OECD data with the main subdivisions generally used in the tax area. The results reported suggest the existence of overall convergence of the tax structure and the tax burden in the period 1965- 2010, but with clear nonlinearities, as the major advances took place up until the end of the 1980s.

Understanding migration and fertility issues would be very relevant in the context of changing demographic dimensions between developed and developing countries, in particular differing age structure of the populations between them. As the developing countries have opportunity for potential demographic dividend due to increase in the supply of labour force, the developed countries would be facing a shortage of labour force and health care burden for old age people. Further, this phenomenon will have repercussion with respect to movement of people from developing countries to developed countries and flow of economy at the global level. At the county level, interregional migrations seems to be increasing due to demographic diversity within the country. Rapid urbanization in the developing countries is another challenge due to rural-urban migration. Therefore, the migratory movement will have greater effect on the future population changes not only within the country level, but also in both developed and developing countries and more so depends on the fertility behavior of the migrants. All these phenomena will have implications on the social and economic dynamics both at the local and global level. The purpose of this note is to review main theories on the relationship between migration and fertility and their empirical evidence.