71st International Atlantic Economic Conference

March 16 - 19, 2011 | Athens, Greece

Institutions and Convergence

Friday, 18 March 2011: 18:20
Angelos Antzoulatos, Ph.D. , Banking & Financial Management, University of Piraeus, Piraeus, Greece
Christos Stefanadis, PhD , Banking & Financial Management, University of Piraeus, Piraeus, Greece
Chris Tsoumas, Ph.D. , Banking & Financial Management, University of Piraeus, Piraeus, Greece
We study empirically the evolution of property rights institutions through time.  Our findings support the conditional convergence hypothesis.  Countries tend to converge to different institutional clubs depending on their level of economic development, institutional history (initial institutions), openness to trade, geographical position, religion and natural resources.