A Convergence Test for Turkish Provinces

The divergence and differences of income and as a consequence wealth level are not only observed on nation basis but also observed in smaller scope within the nation, regional basis. The convergence theory fundamentally argues that economies initially lower per capita incomes will grow faster. The purpose of the study is to test the existence of convergence among 81 provinces of Turkey during 2016-2019 period. The beta convergence of those provinces, that is the decrease of disparity in total sectoral growth rate between a high-level and low-level initial income of provinces, has been examined through comparison of their lagged Gross Domestic Product per capita, labor force participation rate, high school graduate ratio, migration, number of doctors and beds in hospital. In this study, general overview to convergence theory is reviewed by discussing beta, sigma, club convergence as well as unconditional and conditional convergence and empirical literature study is conducted. Within the scope of convergence test, change in total sectoral growth of provinces are tested for three models by using panel data set.