Conditional convergence (条件趋同)

Conditional convergence (条件收敛 tiáo jiàn shōu liǎn) suggests that poorer countries tend to grow faster than richer countries to eventually “catch-up” the wealthier economies in terms of income per capita. If economies have access to the same technology and the same population growth rate, we should expect them to eventually converge to the same per capita income.

Part 1: Breakdown of Words

• “Conditional” (条件 tiáo jiàn) as in conditional distribution (条件分布 tiáo jiàn fēn bù).
  • “条” (tiáo) as in “terms” (条款 tiáo kuǎn), “stripe” (条纹 tiáo wén), or “paper note” (纸条 zhǐ tiáo).
  • “件” (jiàn) as in “event” (事件 shì jiàn), “number of pieces” (件数 jiàn shù), or “case” (案件 àn jiàn).
• Convergence (收敛 shōu liǎn) as in “international convergence” (国际收敛 guó jì qū tóng).
  • “收” as in “collect” (收集 shōu jí), “income” (收入 shōu rù), or “receipt” (收据 shōu jù).
  • “敛” as in “make money” (敛财 liǎn cái), or “assume a serious expression” (敛容 liǎn róng).