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Regional economic development in Europe, 1900-2010: a description of the patterns

Author

Listed:
  • Roses, Joan R.
  • Wolf, Nikolaus

Abstract

We provide the first long-run dataset of regional employment structures and regional GDP and GDP per capita in 1990 international dollars, stretching over more than 100 years. 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, the spread of industry and services and the declining role of agriculture, and changes in the levels of GDP and GDP per capita. We next discuss patterns of convergence and divergence over time and their explanations in terms of short-run adjustment and long-run fundamentals. Also, we document for the first time a secular decrease in spatial coherence from 1900 to 2010. We find a U-shaped development in geographic concentration and regional income inequality, similar to the finding of a U-shaped pattern of personal income inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • Roses, Joan R. & Wolf, Nikolaus, 2018. "Regional economic development in Europe, 1900-2010: a description of the patterns," Economic History Working Papers 87242, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:wpaper:87242
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    File URL: https://researchonline.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/87242/
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    Cited by:

    1. Luigi Mastronardi & Aurora Cavallo, 2020. "The Spatial Dimension of Income Inequality: An Analysis at Municipal Level," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-18, February.
    2. 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.
    3. Antonelli, Cristiano & Tubiana, Matteo, 2020. "Income inequality in the knowledge economy," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 153-164.
    4. Francesco Vona, 2019. "Job losses and political acceptability of climate policies: why the ‘job-killing’ argument is so persistent and how to overturn it," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(4), pages 524-532, April.
    5. Bauluz, Luis & Bukowski, Pawel & Fransham, Mark & Lee, Annie Seong & López Forero, Margarita & Novokmet, Filip & Breau, Sébastien & Lee, Neil & Malgouyres, Clément & Schularick, Moritz & Verdugo, Greg, 2023. "Spatial wage inequality in North America and Western Europe: changes between and within local labour markets 1975-2019," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121290, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Lichner, Ivan & Lyócsa, Štefan & Výrostová, Eva, 2022. "Nominal and discretionary household income convergence: The effect of a crisis in a small open economy," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 18-31.
    7. Francesco Vona, 2018. "Job losses and the political acceptability of climate policies : an amplified collective action problem," Post-Print hal-03458275, HAL.
    8. Miriam Fritzsche & Nikolaus Wolf, 2022. "Fickle Fossils. Economic Growth, Coal and the European Oil Invasion 1900-2015," Working Papers 029, The Productivity Institute.
    9. Marin, Giovanni & Vona, Francesco, 2019. "Climate policies and skill-biased employment dynamics: Evidence from EU countries," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    10. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/6d7es28iae9pjoil7092hs41h3 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Maximilian Buchholz & Harald Bathelt & John A. Cantwell, 0. "Income divergence and global connectivity of U.S. urban regions," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 0, pages 1-20.
    12. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/7upb3pbvdn8fbq3fscr7otbg9t is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Charlotte Bartels & Johannes König & Carsten Schröder, 2025. "Born in the Land of Milk and Honey: Hometown Growth and Individual Wealth Accumulation," CESifo Working Paper Series 12024, CESifo.
    14. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/5ahh4t5kfl8nprei89ignlk5nl is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Kemeny, Thomas & Storper, Michael, 2020. "Superstar cities and left-behind places: disruptive innovation, labor demand, and interregional inequality," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 103312, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    16. N. Cortinovis & D. Zhang & R. Boschma, 2024. "Regional diversification and intra-regional wage inequality in the Netherlands," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(12), pages 2292-2306, December.
    17. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Roberto Ganau, 2022. "Institutions and the productivity challenge for European regions," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 22(1), pages 1-25.
    18. Maximilian Buchholz & Harald Bathelt & John A. Cantwell, 2020. "Income divergence and global connectivity of U.S. urban regions," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 3(3), pages 229-248, September.
    19. Francesco Vona, 2018. "Job losses and the political acceptability of climate policies : an amplified collective action problem," Sciences Po Economics Publications (main) hal-03458275, HAL.
    20. Michael Donadelli & Marcus Jüppner & Antonio Paradiso & Christian Schlag, 2019. "Temperature Volatility Risk," Working Papers 2019:05, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    21. Vona, Francesco, 2023. "Managing the distributional effects of climate policies: A narrow path to a just transition," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    22. Michael Donadelli & Marcus Jüppner & Antonio Paradiso & Christian Schlag, 2021. "Computing Macro-Effects and Welfare Costs of Temperature Volatility: A Structural Approach," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 58(2), pages 347-394, August.
    23. Guillaume Cléaud & Francisco de Castro Fernández & Jorge Durán Laguna & Lucia Granelli & Martin Hallet & Anne Jaubertie & Carlos Maravall Rodriguez & Diana Ognyanova & Balazs Palvolgyi & Tsvetan Tsali, 2019. "Cruising at Different Speeds: Similarities and Divergences between the German and the French Economies," European Economy - Discussion Papers 103, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    24. Nicola Barban & Elisabetta De Cao & Marco Francesconi, 2021. "Gene-Environment Effects on Female Fertility," CESifo Working Paper Series 9337, CESifo.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • N1 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations
    • N9 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History
    • R1 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics

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