The first part of this article explores whether convergence has occurred in technology and income across EU regions during the period 1990-2002. The second part evaluates whether these two processes of convergence are related to each other. With respect to the first question, we find that all R&D indicators and patents have converged among regions during the 1990s and this has ran parallel to a real convergence in income per capita levels. Regarding the second question, we have identified a strong relationship between the distribution of technology indicators and the distribution of regional income in Europe. Our main result is that convergence in business R&D leads to convergence in patents, which in turn leads to convergence in income per capita. Although, we identify a role for government R&D and higher education spending in this process, the policy implications for these two variables are less clear.
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Article provided by Elsevier in its journal Research Policy.
Volume (Year): 37 (2008) Issue (Month): 5 (June) Pages: 836-848 Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML
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