Regional Incomes in Portugal: Industrialisation, Integration and Inequality, 1890-1980

Abstract

ResumenEl análisis de la evolución de la localización de la actividad económica en Portugal, entre 1890 y 1980, nos muestra un fuerte proceso de concentración de la producción en las zonas costeras, coincidiendo con el proceso de decadencia de las provincias agrícolas del interior. A su vez, la evolución de la desigualdad espacial sigue una curva U-invertida, en la línea de lo observado en otras regiones de Europa, pero con el punto máxima desigualdad hacia 1970, mucho más tarde que esas regiones. Las razones de ese comportamiento estarían en las dificultades que tuvo el país para modernizar la economía JEL: N9, R1 AbstractThe analysis of the evolution of the localization of the economic activity in Portugal, among 1890 and 1980, shows a strong process of concentration of the economic activity in the coastal zones, coinciding with the process of decline of the agriculture in the inner provinces. At the same time, the evolution of spatial inequality follows a U-inverted curve, in line with that observed in other regions of Europe, with the unequal peak around 1970, much later than those regions. The reasons for this behavior would be found in the difficulties experienced by the country in their effort to modernize the industry in the lagged regions, and the benefits generated by the agglomeration economies in the more developed regions.

Coping with regional inequality inSweden: structural change, migrations, and policy, 1860–2000

“…See Felice, ‘Regional value added’, for Italy; Combes, Lafourcade, Thisse, and Toutain, ‘Rise and fall’, for France; Badia‐Miró, Guilera, and Lains, ‘Regional incomes’, for Portugal; Rosés, Martínez‐Galarraga, and Tirado, ‘Upswing’, and Martínez‐Galarraga, Rosés, and Tirado, ‘Long‐term patterns’, for Spain.…”

Geography, market potential and industrialization in Italy 1871–2001

“…However, the advantages deriving from proximity and agglomeration economies remain important, also in today's highly integrated economies (Paluzie ; Rodríguez‐Pose and Crescenzi ; World Bank ). Empirical studies confirm how the process of economic development is related to changes in the geographic distribution of industry (Kim ; Combes et al ; Betran ; Badia‐Miró et al ; Martínez‐Galarraga et al ). The pattern of concentration/dispersion of industry describes a bell‐shaped curve, similar to that found by Williamson () for inequalities in regional economic development.…”

The long‐term relationship between economic development and regional inequality: South‐West Europe, 1860–2010

“…Our data set on regional per capita GDP borrows from previous research. In particular, for France we take data from Combes et al (), Díez‐Minguela and Sanchis () and Rosés and Sanchis (); for Italy data is obtained from Felice (, ); for Portugal Badia‐Miró et al () provide regional GDP estimates, while for Spain we use the data set from Martinez‐Galarraga et al () and Tirado, Díez‐Minguela, and Martinez‐Galarraga (). Information on the current NUTS 2 regions is obtained for the four countries: France (22 regions), Italy (20), Portugal (5) and Spain (17).…”