An alternative view of convergence, -convergence, argues that a group of countries/sectors/regions converge when the cross-section variance of the variable under consideration declines across time. As noted by Bliss (1999, 2000), however, the underlying assumption of an evolving data distribution introduces difficulties in the interpretation of the test distribution under the null. Moreover, the rejection of the -convergence hypothesis does not necessarily mean that they do not converge; the presence of transitional dynamics in the data could lead to the rejection of the null hypothesis of -convergence.