[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ers/ijfirm/v6y2016i1p1052.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Regional convergence and economic development in the EU: the relation between national growth and regional disparities within the old and the new member states

Author

Listed:
  • Hans Kramar
Abstract
While European integration has substantially contributed to economic convergence on a national scale, the diverging development of highly developed metropolitan regions and lagging rural areas has become a growing challenge especially for the new member states in Central and Eastern Europe. Although it is widely assumed that economically growing countries are usually confronted with rising inequalities, the question, whether there is a direct relation between total economic growth and regional divergence, has not been sufficiently answered so far. In this context the paper inquires to which degree the process of economic restructuring and catching-up in European countries is accompanied by increasing spatial disparities. The empirical investigation of recent GDP data confirms the trend towards economic convergence on a national scale. On a regional scale, however, the process of convergence was much slower and almost came to an end after the beginning of the global economic crisis in 2008. The reason for these diverging results can be found in the change of disparities within the countries: While regional inequalities largely remained unchanged in the majority of the old member states, the gap between rich and poor regions widened in most countries which accessed the EU since 2004. This trend slowed down or even reversed after 2008, which seems to confirm the assumption that economic growth intensifies spatial divergence. A detailed analysis of the correlation between national growth rates and the change of regional disparities, however, indicates that growing divergence in the new member states can hardly be explained by the speed of total economic growth, but rather by other specific conditions there. A reflection on the mechanisms of agglomeration economies suggests three arguments for the strong diverging effect of the catching-up processes in the new member states, which await to be tested empirically in future research.

Suggested Citation

  • Hans Kramar, 2016. "Regional convergence and economic development in the EU: the relation between national growth and regional disparities within the old and the new member states," International Journal of Finance, Insurance and Risk Management, International Journal of Finance, Insurance and Risk Management, vol. 6(1), pages 1052-1052.
    • Handle: RePEc:ers:ijfirm:v:6:y:2016:i:1:p:1052
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journalfirm.com/journal/139/download
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Oerlemans, L.A.G. & Meeus, M.T.H. & Boekema, F.W.M., 2001. "Firm clustering and innovation," Other publications TiSEM c4398688-1710-449a-83e7-e, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    2. Barrios, Salvador & Strobl, Eric, 2009. "The dynamics of regional inequalities," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 575-591, September.
    3. Puga, Diego, 1999. "The rise and fall of regional inequalities," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 303-334, February.
    4. Robert J. Barro, 1991. "Economic Growth in a Cross Section of Countries," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(2), pages 407-443.
    5. Krugman, Paul, 1991. "Increasing Returns and Economic Geography," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(3), pages 483-499, June.
    6. Jaffe, Adam B, 1989. "Real Effects of Academic Research," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(5), pages 957-970, December.
    7. Stefano Breschi & Francesco Lissoni, 2001. "articles: Localised knowledge spillovers vs. innovative milieux: Knowledge "tacitness" reconsidered," Papers in Regional Science, Springer;Regional Science Association International, vol. 80(3), pages 255-273.
    8. Venables, Anthony J, 1996. "Equilibrium Locations of Vertically Linked Industries," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 37(2), pages 341-359, May.
    9. Ann Markusen, 1996. "Sticky Places in Slippery Space: A Typology of Industrial Districts," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 72(3), pages 293-313, July.
    10. Michael Fritsch, 2002. "Measuring the Quality of Regional Innovation Systems: A Knowledge Production Function Approach," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 25(1), pages 86-101, January.
    11. Gerben Panne, 2004. "Agglomeration externalities: Marshall versus Jacobs," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 14(5), pages 593-604, December.
    12. Monfort, Philippe & Nicolini, Rosella, 2000. "Regional Convergence and International Integration," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 286-306, September.
    13. George Petrakos & Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Antonis Rovolis, 2005. "Growth, Integration, and Regional Disparities in the European Union," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 37(10), pages 1837-1855, October.
    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. N. N. Mikheeva, 2023. "Spatial Structure and Directions of Modernization of the Russian Economy," Regional Research of Russia, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 101-128, March.

    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. Hans Kramar, 2015. "Regional convergence and economic development in the EU: the relation between national growth and regional disparities within the old and the new member states," ERSA conference papers ersa15p505, European Regional Science Association.
    2. Lili Tan & Dao-Zhi Zeng, 2014. "Spatial inequality between developed and developing economies," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 93(2), pages 229-248, June.
    3. Ottaviano, Gianmarco & Thisse, Jacques-Francois, 2004. "Agglomeration and economic geography," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: J. V. Henderson & J. F. Thisse (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 58, pages 2563-2608, Elsevier.
    4. Jian Wang & Junqian Xu, 2015. "Home market effect, spatial wages disparity: an empirical reinvestigation of China," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 55(2), pages 313-333, December.
    5. BEHRENS, Kristian, 2003. "International trade and internal geography revisited," LEG - Document de travail - Economie 2003-09, LEG, Laboratoire d'Economie et de Gestion, CNRS, Université de Bourgogne.
    6. Adolfo Cristobal Campoamor & Osiris Jorge Parcero, 2024. "Behind the Eastern-Western European convergence path: the role of geography and trade liberalization," Papers 2401.05107, arXiv.org.
    7. Breinlich, Holger & Ottaviano, Gianmarco I.P. & Temple, Jonathan R.W., 2014. "Regional Growth and Regional Decline," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 4, pages 683-779, Elsevier.
    8. Olga Alonso-Villar, 2006. "A Reflection On The Effects Of Transport Costs Within The New Economic Geography," Working Papers 57, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    9. Kristian Behrens & Frédéric Robert‐Nicoud, 2009. "Krugman's Papers in Regional Science: The 100 dollar bill on the sidewalk is gone and the 2008 Nobel Prize well‐deserved," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 88(2), pages 467-489, June.
    10. Julio Martinez-Galarraga & Elisenda Paluzie & Jordi Pons & Javier Silvestre & Daniel A. Tirado, 2021. "New economic geography and economic history: a survey of recent contributions through the lens of the Spanish industrialization process," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 15(3), pages 719-751, September.
    11. Lara Abdel Fattah & Giuseppe Arcuri & Aziza Garsaa & Nadine Levratto, 2020. "Firm financial soundness and knowledge externalities: A comparative regional analysis," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 99(5), pages 1459-1486, October.
    12. Benjamin Faber, 2007. "Towards the Spatial Patterns of Sectoral Adjustments to Trade Liberalisation: The Case of NAFTA in Mexico," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(4), pages 567-594, December.
    13. Rosella Nicolini, 2008. "Agglomeration and inequality across space: What can we learn from the European experience?," Working Papers wpdea0809, Department of Applied Economics at Universitat Autonoma of Barcelona.
    14. Julio Martínez-Galarraga, 2014. "Market potential estimates in history: a survey of methods and an application to Spain, 1867-1930," Working Papers 0051, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    15. David B. Audretsch, 2003. "Innovation And Spatial Externalities," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 26(2), pages 167-174, April.
    16. Matthias Firgo & Peter Mayerhofer, 2015. "Wissens-Spillovers und regionale Entwicklung - welche strukturpolitische Ausrichtung optimiert des Wachstum?," Working Paper Reihe der AK Wien - Materialien zu Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft 144, Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte für Wien, Abteilung Wirtschaftswissenschaft und Statistik.
    17. Picard, Pierre M. & Toulemonde, Eric, 2006. "Firms agglomeration and unions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 669-694, April.
    18. Ageliki Anagnostou & Ioannis Panteladis & Maria Tsiapa, 2015. "Disentangling different patterns of business cycle synchronicity in the EU regions," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 42(3), pages 615-641, August.
    19. Alberto Franco Pozzolo, 2004. "Research and Development, Regional Spillovers and the Location of Economic Activities," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 72(4), pages 463-482, July.
    20. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/8001 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. J.Peter Neary, 2001. "Of Hype and Hyperbolas: Introducing the New Economic Geography," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(2), pages 536-561, June.

    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:ers:ijfirm:v:6:y:2016:i:1:p:1052. 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: Marios Agiomavritis (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journalfirm.com/ .

    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.