Handling the case where converting empty categorical to 'pyarrow' dtype_backend results in error. Since conversion of non-empty categorical returns categorical of 'numpy_nullable' dtype_backend, now, instead of raising an error, we ensure empty categorical is returned as well.

Author: veljanin

pandas/core/dtypes/cast.py

@@ -1145,12 +1145,16 @@ def convert_dtypes(
                 and isna(input_array).all()
             ):
                 import pyarrow as pa
-
+                
                 pa_type = pa.null()
             else:
                 pa_type = to_pyarrow_type(base_dtype)
             if pa_type is not None:
-                inferred_dtype = ArrowDtype(pa_type)
+                if isna(input_array).all() and hasattr(input_array, 'categories'):
+                    inferred_dtype = input_array.dtype
+                else:
+                    inferred_dtype = ArrowDtype(pa_type)
+
     elif dtype_backend == "numpy_nullable" and isinstance(inferred_dtype, ArrowDtype):
         # GH 53648
         inferred_dtype = _arrow_dtype_mapping()[inferred_dtype.pyarrow_dtype]

pandas/tests/frame/methods/test_convert_dtypes.py

@@ -34,6 +34,22 @@ def test_convert_empty(self):
         # Empty DataFrame can pass convert_dtypes, see GH#40393
         empty_df = pd.DataFrame()
         tm.assert_frame_equal(empty_df, empty_df.convert_dtypes())
+    
+    def test_convert_empty_categorical_to_pyarrow(self):
+        df = pd.DataFrame(
+            {
+                "A": pd.Series(pd.Categorical([None] * 5)),
+                "B": pd.Series(pd.Categorical([None] * 5, categories=["B1", "B2"])),
+             }
+        )
+        converted = df.convert_dtypes(dtype_backend="pyarrow")
+        expected = df
+        tm.assert_frame_equal(converted, expected)
+        
+        assert df.A.dtype == "category", "Dtype in column A is not 'category'"
+        assert df.B.dtype == "category", "Dtype in column B is not 'category'"
+        assert df.A.cat.categories.empty, "Categories in column A are not empty"
+        assert (df.B.cat.categories == ["B1", "B2"]).all(), "Categories in column A are not empty"
 
     def test_convert_dtypes_retain_column_names(self):
         # GH#41435