Economic Convergence in The Benelux Countries at The Turn of the 21st Century

Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg have been forming a regional grouping known as the Benelux for over seventy years. The analyzed countries were a model of the regional cooperation model for many European associations and communities. The aim of the research was to answer whether there was a process of economic convergence between the Benelux countries. An analysis of processes of economic convergence was conducted using two methods: convergence of type σ and convergence of type β. The adopted time horizon was 1995 to 2019. Processes of economic convergence were analyzed over two-time intervals, to conduct an analysis of the process of economic convergence prior to the 21st century and in the first two decades of the new century. The results of an estimation of convergence of type σ and type β, for which GDP per capita was used, it was shown that, both at the end of the 20th century and also in the first two decades of the 21st century, a process of economic divergence occurred between the Benelux countries.