Using SOMbrero to examine the economic convergence of European countries from 2001–2013

This paper uses SOMbrero visualizations to examine two socio-economic dimensions of European states, generated by a factor analysis of time-series data from 2001–2013. We analyze SOMs for 41 countries with regard to “Old Capital” and “New Capital”, two factors that are generated from 12 variables. SOMbrero reveals evidence of various convergence paths over time for these two factors. This approach also clearly uncovers the differential impacts of the European recession upon clusters of European countries. In conclusion, we demonstrate that SOMs are a useful tool for better understanding European convergence.