Bulletin n. 1/2017
June 2017
INDICE
  • Section A) The theory and practise of the federal states and multi-level systems of government
  • Section B) Global governance and international organizations
  • Section C) Regional integration processes
  • Section D) Federalism as a political idea
    • Sheila Chapman, Valentina Meliciani
    Behind the Pan-European Convergence Path: The Role of Innovation, Specialisation and Socio-economic Factors
    in Growth and Change , Volume 48, Issue 1 ,  2017 ,  61-90
    The paper analyses the determinants of regional disparities in per capita gross domestic product (GDP) and their evolution over time in the enlarged European Union (EU). With reference to the literature it groups EU regions on the basis of three different factors—specialisation, socio-economic features, and innovation. It then analyses regional disparities in per capita GDP (EU-relative and country-relative) across groups over 2004–2011 using both non-parametric tools and traditional regression analysis with spatial effects. The paper finds that EU-wide convergence actually conceals growing divergence across old member regions and within new members. Coming to the factors that lie at the heart of regional disparities, country factors lose importance for newcomers but become more important for older members, notwithstanding longstanding integration. Socio-economic factors and innovation instead become increasingly important for all areas, socio-economic factors lying at the heart of within-country differences and innovation more of those between regions. Finally, specialisation appears to have a lower explanatory power.
    ©2001 - 2020 - Centro Studi sul Federalismo - P. IVA 94067130016