Regional disparities and growth in the European Union

Abstract

"This thesis investigates different aspects regarding the development of regional economic disparities and growth in the EU. Consisting of different empirical studies, it provides new evidence on questions concerning the development of inequalities in regional income levels and skill-specific labour market disparities across regions in the EU. Though highly relevant for regional economic policies by the EU and its member states, these issues have not been comprehensively explored by empirical studies, yet.<br> Especially, there is a lack of information on the development of the spatial distribution of economic activities between and within countries and possible effects of economic integration in the light of the EU enlargement process. The results presented in Chapters 2 and 3 show that regional convergence is driven mainly by country-specific effects and accompanied by increasing within-country disparities, in particular in the new member states. Furthermore, it is shown that increasing market access due to reduced border impediments does not have a significant effect on the growth of regional per capita incomes in the EU at this stage of EU-integration.<br> Another gap of the current research in regional sciences (addressed in Chapters 4 and 5) refers to the lack of information on the determinants of regional employment growth by different skill levels. As the individual employment prospects shrink with decreasing skill-level, information on the determinants for spill-specific employment growth is of particular importance for regional policies designed to promote employment at the lower bound of the skill distribution. The results show that, although a rising stock of local human capital tends to have a positive effect on local low-skilled employment, this effect may be dampened when the low-skilled tend to work apart, i.e. are separated by workplace, from more skilled colleagues." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Schlitte, F. (2012): Regional disparities and growth in the European Union. Economic integration, convergence and skill-specific employment. (IAB-Bibliothek 333), Bielefeld: Bertelsmann, 156 p. DOI:10.3278/300771w