Further econometric evidence on the gravitation and convergence of industrial rates of return on regulating capital

The hypotheses of sectoral return rates on regulating capital either gravitating around or converging toward a common value is tested on data for various OECD countries by adopting two panel varying coefficient approaches. The null hypotheses receive some empirical support, which turns out to be stronger once focusing on manufacturing industries only. The paper offers a meta-analytic framework to assess the results obtained in the present contribution as well as in the past literature. Finally, implications for economic policies and future theoretical and empirical research are discussed.