Regional Inequalities in the European Union

Petrakos, George; Rodríguez‐Pose, Andrés; Anagnostou, Ageliki

doi:10.1007/0-387-22854-3_2

Cited by 9 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…This can be observed in line with (Bogumil, 2009), who explains that skilled labour is more likely to migrate to better developed areas, thus increasing the disparities between the regions. Similarly, Petrakos (2009) notes that although regional policies emphasise the role of human capital and innovation (in addition to entrepreneurship) in most of the less developed regions, such factors are still weak, so these regions are unable to break out of the underdevelopment trap. Certainly, this can increase regional inequalities in human capital, which will have a negative influence on the competitiveness of the EU member states.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(Bogumil, 2009) elaborates that one of the standard mechanisms for the equalisation of regional income and labour market disparities in Europe is EU fund inflows. (Petrakos, 2009) notes that the impact of the EU Structural Funds is one of the reasons why the levels of inequalities decreased in the EU-27 and the benefits of the reduction in inequalities have not been spread equally among the regions in converging Eastern or Southern countries. In most of them, especially in the new member states, convergence has been achieved because of the superior performance of metropolitan areas, which have driven up national averages (Petrakos, 2009, 28).…”

Section: Theoretical Background -Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Can We Boost the Competitiveness of the European Union through Reducing Regional Inequalities in Human Capital?

Tijanić¹,

Obadić

2015

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The trade-offs involved in boosting the competitiveness of EU member states, while reducing within-country regional inequalities, constitute an important, but underinvestigated relation in competitiveness and regional policy analyses. The article studies the influence of regional inequalities in human capital on the competitiveness of the EU member states, drawing on a panel dataset of 22 EU countries and 266 NUTS 2 regions, over the period 2000-2011. The analysis is extended with the variables that can have a significant influence on the observed relationship, including the EU's Structural and Cohesion Funds, and differences in the levels of development between EU member states and regions. Applying different panel data estimators, it is determined that higher regional inequalities in human capital reduce the competitiveness of the EU member states. The EU's Structural and Cohesion Fund payments have a positive influence on competitiveness in the long run. The EU's new member states, as well as the EU countries in which most of the regions are classified as less developed regions, have lower competitiveness. The conclusions imply that the absorption of the EU's Structural and Cohesion Funds in less developed regions does not contribute sufficiently to the strengthening of national competitiveness. The results also confirm the need to integrate a more place-based approach into the EU's regional, and even national, competitiveness policies. With its approach in analysing the influence of regional inequalities in human capital, this article adds empirically to the existing studies about the ambiguous relation between regional inequalities and competitiveness. The conclusions can be used in the future EU regional policy planning that places special emphasis on measures, which are directed towards developing human capital potential.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theoretical Background -Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can We Boost the Competitiveness of the European Union through Reducing Regional Inequalities in Human Capital?

Tijanić¹,

Obadić

2015

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“…As an answer to the above mentioned neoclassical empirical studies, an opposing literature was developed according to which growth is a cumulative spatial process, a process that can determine the increase of disparities. In this way, we mention the older development theories, urban theories of development, the school of the new economic geography, and theories of endogen growth, in which a common ground occurs: there is the tendency of associating economic growth to agglomeration (Petrakos, 2009) The agglomeration of activities in a region is a factor of economic growth but does not determine the decrease of regional disparities. The agglomeration of economic activities in a central region is the expression of a balance between the centripetal forces determining the polarization of economic activities in the central region and the centrifugal ones influencing their dispersion towards peripheral regions (Marinaș and Socol, 2009, p. 67).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disparities in Regional Economic Development in Romania

Oţil

Miculescu

Cismaṣ

2015

Annals of the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University - Economics

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The issue of economic disparities within the European Union economies is not new, it is actually a topical issue. Unfortunately, the EU enlargement has determined an even stronger deepening of the regional disparities, because in the absence of adequate regional development policies, the financial instruments have proved to be ineffective. Recent studies show that the economic crisis has increased regional disparities in the European Union countries, influencing the most important regions, especially the economically less advanced ones, the significant regional differences being identified at the NUTS 3 level. Based on these issues, the present paper tries to answer the following questions: 1. How extended are the regional disparities in Romania and how did they evolve over the period 1998-2012? 2. How did the economic crisis influence disparities? Which territorial units were more affected? In order to measure regional inequalities the Hoover index was used as well as the coefficient of variation, and the indicator for assessing the level of development as well as for highlighting regional disparities was GDP per capita. The analysis and interpretation of the results provide an overview of the situation at the regional level in Romania

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“…[ 10 ] ΠΕΡΙΦΕΡΕΙΑ A large number of econometric studies have examined regional inequalities in Europe with a variety of results that mainly depend on the selection of methodology (Combes and Overman, 2004). However, an increasing number of papers (Button and Pentecost, 1995;Quah, 1996;Fingleton, 1997;Magrini, 1999;Rodriguez-Pose, 1999;Canova, 2004;Petrakos et al, 2005a;Petrakos et al, 2005b;Vojinović and Próchniak, 2009;Petrakos and Artelaris, 2009;Artelaris et al, 2010) and a simple examination of regional data show that inequalities are increasing. First, at the national level, regional inequalities have increased in most countries.…”

Section: Spatial Selectivity In Growth Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integration, spatial dynamics and regional policy dilemmas in the European Union

Petrakos

2012

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This paper presents a critical account of the process of integration and its implications for the future of European Union. It analyses the type, strength and direction of trade and factor fl ows a mong places and the emerging geography of development in Europe. It argues that integration is not a space neutral process, as its main drivers are characterized by spatial selectivity and diverging performances, generating an overall unfavorable environment for laggingbehind regions in the EU. The paper also discusses the current regional policy dilemmas in the EU, arguing that top-down uniformity in policy choices and a strict framework of policy directives should be avoided, as different places may have to choose a different mix of regional policy that will correspond better to their needs. The paper also examines why the persistently underperforming regions in Europe cannot learn and benefi t from best-case examples and the success stories of other regions. Although factors affecting economic potential are usually different in advanced and less advanced regions, cohesion policies attempt to solve the underdevelopment problems of the lagging regions, only informed by the experience of the successful ones. The paper concludes that regional policy has to change in important ways. The new territorial approach requires policy to become more fl exible and more adaptive to local and regional needs. This means that uniformity in policy priorities and mix should be avoided and the proposed ‘pan-European approach’ should leave enough room for bottom up and place based approaches, as the experience shows that no single path or an a priori mix of policy tools exists for every place.

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Regional Inequalities in the European Union

Cited by 9 publications

References 27 publications

Can We Boost the Competitiveness of the European Union through Reducing Regional Inequalities in Human Capital?

Can We Boost the Competitiveness of the European Union through Reducing Regional Inequalities in Human Capital?

Disparities in Regional Economic Development in Romania

Integration, spatial dynamics and regional policy dilemmas in the European Union

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