IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eaa/aeinde/v10y2010i2_7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exploring Regional Convergence: Evidence From 19 European Countries, 1991-2008

Author

Listed:
  • ANDRADE, Carlos
  • PINHO, Carlos
  • PINHO, Maria de Fátima

Abstract

We focus on regional convergence based upon a sample of 19 European countries (1991-2008). After covering theoretical issues on -convergence and -convergence, we focused on the income distribution details. Our evidence confirms some results presented elsewhere, such as the convergence process ephemeral nature, the trend towards polarization, the relative region's position high degree of persistence and the 'convergence clubs' hypothesis admissibility. Our main novelty is the estimated shape for the ergodic distribution, revealing a long run trend towards the formation of more clusters. In sum, the catching-up process underway in Europe seems to be transient.

Suggested Citation

  • ANDRADE, Carlos & PINHO, Carlos & PINHO, Maria de Fátima, 2010. "Exploring Regional Convergence: Evidence From 19 European Countries, 1991-2008," Applied Econometrics and International Development, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 10(2).
    • Handle: RePEc:eaa:aeinde:v:10:y:2010:i:2_7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.usc.es/economet/reviews/aeid1027.pdf
    Download Restriction: No.
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alicja Olejnik, 2008. "Using the spatial autoregressively distributed lag model in assessing the regional convergence of per‐capita income in the EU25," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 87(3), pages 371-384, August.
    2. López-Rodríguez , Jesús & Faíña, Andrés, 2007. "Regional Wage Disparities in Europe: What role for Market Access?," INVESTIGACIONES REGIONALES - Journal of REGIONAL RESEARCH, Asociación Española de Ciencia Regional, issue 11, pages 5-23.
    3. Valentina Meliciani & Franco Peracchi, 2009. "Convergence in per-capita GDP across European regions: a reappraisal," Studies in Empirical Economics, in: Giuseppe Arbia & Badi H. Baltagi (ed.), Spatial Econometrics, pages 203-222, Springer.
    4. Georgios Fotopoulos, 2008. "European Union Regional Productivity Dynamics: A “Distributional” Approach," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(2), pages 419-454, May.
    5. Manfred Fischer & Peter Stumpner, 2008. "Income distribution dynamics and cross-region convergence in Europe," Journal of Geographical Systems, Springer, vol. 10(2), pages 109-139, June.
    6. Quah, Danny, 1997. "Empirics for growth and distribution," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 2138, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. A. Rodriguez-Pose & Riccardo Crescenzi, 2006. "R&D, spillovers, innovatoin systems and the genesis of regional growth in Europe," Departmental Working Papers of Economics - University 'Roma Tre' 0067, Department of Economics - University Roma Tre.
    8. Maarten Bosker, 2009. "The spatial evolution of regional GDP disparities in the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ Europe," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 88(1), pages 3-27, March.
    9. Toni Mora, 2008. "Factors conditioning the formation of European regional convergence clubs," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 42(4), pages 911-927, December.
    10. Pfaffermayr, Michael, 2009. "Conditional [beta]- and [sigma]-convergence in space: A maximum likelihood approach," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 63-78, January.
    11. Jose Villaverde & Adolfo Maza, 2008. "Productivity convergence in the European regions, 1980-2003: a sectoral and spatial approach," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(10), pages 1299-1313.
    12. Becker, Sascha O. & Egger, Peter H. & von Ehrlich, Maximilian, 2010. "Going NUTS: The effect of EU Structural Funds on regional performance," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(9-10), pages 578-590, October.
    13. Kurt Geppert & Andreas Stephan, 2008. "Regional disparities in the European Union: Convergence and agglomeration," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 87(2), pages 193-217, June.
    14. Andrew T. Young & Matthew J. Higgins & Daniel Levy, 2008. "Sigma Convergence versus Beta Convergence: Evidence from U.S. County‐Level Data," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 40(5), pages 1083-1093, August.
    15. Quah, Danny, 1997. "Empirics for Growth and Distribution: Stratification, Polarization, and Convergence Clubs," CEPR Discussion Papers 1586, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    16. Guisan, M.C. & Aguayo, E., 2004. "Employment, Population and Regional Development in Western and Central Europe. Econometric Models and Challenges of EU Enlargement," Applied Econometrics and International Development, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 4(2), pages 129-142.
    17. Adolfo Maza & José Villaverde & María Hierro, 2009. "Regional Productivity Distribution in the European Union: Which are the Influencing Factors?," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 149-159, January.
    18. Nicolas Debarsy & Cem Ertur, 2006. "The European Enlargement Process and Regional Convergence Revisited: Spatial Effects Still Matter," ERSA conference papers ersa06p198, European Regional Science Association.
    19. Sandy Dall'erba & Julie Le Gallo, 2008. "Regional convergence and the impact of European structural funds over 1989–1999: A spatial econometric analysis," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 87(2), pages 219-244, June.
    20. Roberto Ezcurra & Manuel Rapún, 2007. "Regional Dynamics And Convergence Profiles In The Enlarged European Union: A Non‐Parametric Approach," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 98(5), pages 564-584, December.
    21. Enrico Marelli, 2007. "Specialisation and Convergence in European Regions," European Journal of Comparative Economics, Cattaneo University (LIUC), vol. 4(2), pages 149-178, September.
    22. Julie Le Gallo & Sandy Dall'erba, 2008. "Spatial and sectoral productivity convergence between European regions, 1975–2000," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 87(4), pages 505-525, November.
    23. Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), 2005. "Handbook of Economic Growth," Handbook of Economic Growth, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    24. Roberto Zelli & Maria Grazia Pittau, 2006. "Empirical evidence of income dynamics across EU regions," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(5), pages 605-628.
    25. Michele Battisti & Gianfranco Vaio, 2009. "A spatially filtered mixture of β-convergence regressions for EU regions, 1980–2002," Studies in Empirical Economics, in: Giuseppe Arbia & Badi H. Baltagi (ed.), Spatial Econometrics, pages 105-121, Springer.
    26. KARRAS, Georgios, 2008. "GROWTH AND CONVERGENCE, 1950-2003. What Can We Learn from the Solow Model?," Applied Econometrics and International Development, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 8(1), pages 5-18.
    27. Julie Le Gallo, 2004. "Space-Time Analysis of GDP Disparities among European Regions: A Markov Chains Approach," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 27(2), pages 138-163, April.
    28. Hierro, Mara & Maza, Adolfo, 2009. "Structural shifts in the dynamics of the European income distribution," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 733-739, May.
    29. Roberto Ezcurra & Pedro Pascual & Manuel Rapún, 2007. "Spatial Inequality in Productivity in the European Union: Sectoral and Regional Factors," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 30(4), pages 384-407, October.
    30. Mulas-Granados, Carlos & Sanz, Ismael, 2008. "The dispersion of technology and income in Europe: Evolution and mutual relationship across regions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 836-848, June.
    31. Andres Rodriguez-Pose & Riccardo regstdcenzi, 2008. "Research and Development, Spillovers, Innovation Systems, and the Genesis of Regional Growth in Europe," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(1), pages 51-67.
    32. Sergio J. Rey & Mark V. Janikas, 2005. "Regional convergence, inequality, and space," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 5(2), pages 155-176, April.
    33. Zagler, Martin, 2003. "The Dynamics of Economic Growth and Unemployment in Major European Countries: Analysis of Okun´s Law," Applied Econometrics and International Development, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 3(3).
    34. Adolfo Maza & Jose Villaverde, 2004. "Regional disparities in the EU: mobility and polarization," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(8), pages 517-522.
    35. Roberto Esposti & Stefania Bussoletti, 2008. "Impact of Objective 1 Funds on Regional Growth Convergence in the European Union: A Panel-data Approach," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(2), pages 159-173.
    36. Stephen Dobson & Carlyn Ramlogan & Eric Strobl, 2006. "Why Do Rates Of Β‐Convergence Differ? A Meta‐Regression Analysis," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 53(2), pages 153-173, May.
    37. Jesus Lopez-Rodriguez, 2008. "Regional Convergence in the European Union: Results from a Panel Data Model," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 18(2), pages 1-7.
    38. Roberto Basile, 2009. "Productivity Polarization across Regions in Europe," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 32(1), pages 92-115, January.
    39. Nazrul Islam, 2003. "What have We Learnt from the Convergence Debate?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(3), pages 309-362, July.
    40. Danny Quah, 1997. "Empirics for Growth and Distribution," CEP Discussion Papers dp0324, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    41. Stefano Magrini, 2007. "Analysing Convergence through the Distribution Dynamics Approach: Why and how?," Working Papers 2007_13, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    42. Koen Frenken & Jarno Hoekman, 2006. "Convergence In An Enlarged Europe: The Role Of Network Cities," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 97(3), pages 321-326, July.
    43. Quah, Danny T., 1996. "Empirics for economic growth and convergence," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 1353-1375, June.
    44. Roberto Ezcurra, 2009. "Does Income Polarization Affect Economic Growth? The Case of the European Regions," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(2), pages 267-285.
    45. Fischer, Manfred M. & Stirböck, Claudia, 2004. "Regional Income Convergence in the Enlarged Europe, 1995-2000: A Spatial Econometric Perspective," ZEW Discussion Papers 04-42, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    46. Quah, Danny T, 1997. "Empirics for Growth and Distribution: Stratification, Polarization, and Convergence Clubs," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 27-59, March.
    47. Roberta Capello, 2008. "Regional economics in its 1950s: recent theoretical directions and future challenges," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 42(4), pages 747-767, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Elena Gennadievna POPKOVA & Maria Konstantinovna ROMANOVA & Lyudmila Ivanovna KUKAEVA, 2014. "Formation Of The Regional Meat Cluster Development Strategy In Russia," Regional and Sectoral Economic Studies, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 14(1), pages 105-114.
    2. ESCOBARI, Diego, 2011. "Testing for Stochastic and Beta-convergence in Latin American Countries," Applied Econometrics and International Development, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 11(2).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Maza, Adolfo & Hierro, María & Villaverde, José, 2012. "Income distribution dynamics across European regions: Re-examining the role of space," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 2632-2640.
    2. Jesús Peiró-Palomino, 2016. "European regional convergence revisited: the role of intangible assets," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 57(1), pages 165-194, July.
    3. Paul Johnson & Chris Papageorgiou, 2020. "What Remains of Cross-Country Convergence?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 58(1), pages 129-175, March.
    4. Adolfo Maza & María Hierro & José Villaverde, 2010. "Measuring intra-distribution income dynamics: an application to the European regions," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 45(2), pages 313-329, October.
    5. Sheila Chapman & Stefania Cosci & Loredana Mirra, 2012. "Income dynamics in an enlarged Europe: the role of capital regions," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 48(3), pages 663-693, June.
    6. María Hierro & Adolfo Maza, 2015. "From Discrete To Continuous-Time Transition Matrices In Intra-Distribution Dynamics Analysis: An Application To Per Capita Wealth In Europe," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(3), pages 227-235, July.
    7. Novotný, JOSEF, 2011. "Convergence and divergence in living standards among regions of the enlarged European Union (1992-2006)," MPRA Paper 34145, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Jesús Peiró-Palomino & Emili Tortosa-Ausina, 2014. "On the sources of European regional convergence: Does social capital have an economic payoff?," Working Papers 2014/16, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
    9. Roberto Basile, 2009. "Productivity Polarization across Regions in Europe," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 32(1), pages 92-115, January.
    10. Jesús Peiró-Palomino, 2013. "European regional convergence revisited: The role of space and the intangible assets," Working Papers 2013/11, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
    11. repec:elg:eechap:14395_11 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Azomahou, Théophile T. & El ouardighi, Jalal & Nguyen-Van, Phu & Pham, Thi Kim Cuong, 2011. "Testing convergence of European regions: A semiparametric approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 1202-1210, May.
    13. Márcio Poletti Laurini, 2017. "A spatial error model with continuous random effects and an application to growth convergence," Journal of Geographical Systems, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 371-398, October.
    14. José Villaverde & Adolfo Maza, 2012. "Chinese per Capita Income Distribution, 1992–2007: A Regional Perspective," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 26(4), pages 313-331, December.
    15. Carlos Mendez-Guerra, 2018. "On the distribution dynamics of human development: Evidence from the metropolitan regions of Bolivia," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 38(4), pages 2467-2475.
    16. Adolfo Maza & José Villaverde, 2009. "Spatial Effects On Provincial Convergence And Income Distribution In Spain: 1985–2003," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 100(3), pages 316-331, July.
    17. Eckey, Hans-Friedrich & Türck, Matthias, 2007. "Convergence of EU-Regions. A Literature Report," INVESTIGACIONES REGIONALES - Journal of REGIONAL RESEARCH, Asociación Española de Ciencia Regional, issue 10, pages 5-32.
    18. Túlio Cravo & Guilherme Resende, 2013. "Economic growth in Brazil: a spatial filtering approach," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 50(2), pages 555-575, April.
    19. Sheila Chapman & Valentina Meliciani, 2017. "Behind the Pan-European Convergence Path: The Role of Innovation, Specialisation and Socio-economic Factors," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(1), pages 61-90, March.
    20. José Villaverde & Adolfo Maza & María Hierro, 2014. "Health care expenditure disparities in the European Union and underlying factors: a distribution dynamics approach," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 251-268, September.
    21. Roberto EZCURRA, 2013. "Polarization Trends Across The European Regions," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 38, pages 11-26.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    regional growth; -convergence; -convergence; distribution dynamics; Europe;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C14 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods: General
    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence
    • O57 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Comparative Studies of Countries
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eaa:aeinde:v:10:y:2010:i:2_7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: M. Carmen Guisan (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.usc.es/economet/eaa.htm .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.