Progresso técnico e o processo de catching up na União Europeia

Abstract

The work presents the theory of the integration process in the view of the Hungarian Béla Balassa economist and other authors, commenting on the steps and the reduction of barriers as the integration progresses. It also brings a brief history of the creation of the European Union, described with relevant information to the empirical study. The data from the Penn World Table 8.0 are used for the analysis of the technical change in countries that joined the European Union until 1995, in the period 1950-2011, adopting the Foley and Michl (1999) representation system, which uses the growth-distribution schedule. It also analyzes the results of the variables: growth rate of capital stock, real average wage and gross profit rate. The study finds a Marx-biased technical change in the member states, common in capitalist economies. Moreover, the results of the evolution of labor productivity and capital intensity show an approximation process in relation to the United States in the period 1970-2011, observing the effects of economic integration. The results of the difference between the growth rates of the capital stock of the EU-15 and the US economy show a downward trend in the same period in almost all regions.