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Regional growth and inequality in the long-run: Europe, 1900–2015

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  • Joan R Rosés
  • Nikolaus Wolf

Abstract

In this paper we discuss regional income growth and inequality based on a new set of long-run data. The data cover 173 European regions in 16 countries, from 1900 to 2015. These data allow us to compare regions over time, among each other, and to other parts of the world. After some brief notes on methodology, we describe the basic patterns in the data in terms of some key dimensions: variation in the density of population and economic activity, structural change with a declining role of agriculture, the rise and fall of industry, and the long rise of services. We show how ‘fundamentals’ of institutions and geography affected income levels over the twentieth century, and describe how regional growth after 1945 turned from convergence and adjustment to shocks to divergence. In the long run we observe a U-shaped pattern of regional convergence followed by divergence, not unlike recent observations on personal income and wealth distributions.

Suggested Citation

  • Joan R Rosés & Nikolaus Wolf, 2021. "Regional growth and inequality in the long-run: Europe, 1900–2015," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 37(1), pages 17-48.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:oxford:v:37:y:2021:i:1:p:17-48.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/oxrep/graa062
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    Cited by:

    1. Cutrini, Eleonora & Mendez, Carlos, 2023. "Convergence clubs and spatial structural change in the European Union," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 167-181.
    2. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Javier Terrero-Dávila & Neil Lee, 2023. "Left-behind versus unequal places: interpersonal inequality, economic decline and the rise of populism in the USA and Europe," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 23(5), pages 951-977.
    3. Juan Duran & Iulia Siedschlag, 2025. "Multinational Enterprises and Between‐Firm Wage Inequality Across European Regions," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(11), pages 2447-2466, November.

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    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution

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