Statistical Analysis of the Globalization Impact on the Convergence of Economic Development in the Countries of the World

The article analyzes of the impact of globalization on the convergence of economic development in the world between 1990 and 2015. The hypothesis of conditional β-convergence is tested. However, before that, three homogeneous groups of countries were formed in accordance with the rate of economic growth and the degree of involvement in globalization processes. The evidence shows that globalization promotes economic convergence within all clusters, but weakens the process of economic convergence among groups of countries. The analysis of spatial interactions is consistent with these conclusions. The model with spatial interaction in errors showed that inclusion in the model of spatial interactions weakens the convergence of economic development in the third cluster, by reducing the coefficient at the logarithm of the initial level of GDP and KOF-index of globalization, and enhances economic convergence in the second cluster. This demonstrates the weakness of social institutions in undeveloped countries, which retard the process of general economic convergence of countries, and the need to introduce new social and economic policies aimed at reducing the negative consequences of globalization in these countries. Finally, the robustness in time of the revealed relationship between globalization and economic convergence was tested. The Johansen test for cointegration revealed that there is a positive, long-term and sustainable relationship between globalization and economic convergence.