Polarization Trends Across The European Regions

This paper examines the level of polarization in the distribution of GDP per capita in 263 European regions over the period 1995-2008. To that end I have completed the non-parametric analysis of the external shape of the distribution with the information provided by a series of measures proposed by Esteban and Ray (1994) and Esteban et al. (2007). The results show a reduction in the degree of polarization across the European regions throughout the study period. This conclusion does not depend on the specific number of groups considered in the analysis and the value assigned to the polarization sensitivity parameter. The analysis carried out also shows that polarization and spatial autocorrelation have followed a similar trend between 1995 and 2008, which reveals the importance of the geographical location of the various regions in explaining the variations registered by the distribution of GDP per capita over time.