Convergence and transition paths in transportation : fresh insights from a club clustering algorithm

Abstract: This study examines the convergence in global transportation for 102 countries spanning 1990–2018. The econometric convergence method of Phillips and Sul was employed to test club convergence and the modelling of transition paths to convergence. I disaggregated the panel data into five regions, based on the United Nations classification of geographical regions. Transportation infrastructure was constructed by using a composite index of transportation via the principal component analysis/method. Our findings suggest the presence of panel convergence at the global and regional levels (except for Africa, Europe and Oceania, which exhibited divergence). However, I identified different numbers of clubs for the regions using an iterative testing procedure and found that the results could not be generalised across the regions as there were both convergent and divergent clubs. The policy measures on transport infrastructures for the regions are discussed in this study