Spatial heterogeneity and interregional spillovers in the European Union: Do cohesion policies encourage convergence across regions?

Hernández, Julián Ramajo; Márquez, Miguel A.; Hewings, Geoffrey J. D.; Salinas, María M.

doi:10.1016/j.euroecorev.2007.05.006

Cited by 198 publications

(121 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Actually, these regions might be persistently uncoupled in their development dynamics from the rest of the EU. Being consistent with earlier evidence on the existence of distinct geographically delineated convergence clubs in the EU (e.g., Ramajo et al 2008), this possibility should be taken into account for the design of future regional development strategies.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 54%

EU Structural Funds and Regional Income Convergence A Sobering Experience

2016

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 54%

EU Structural Funds and Regional Income Convergence A Sobering Experience

2016

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“…This result is supported by specific papers on cohesion countries, such as Barry (2003), Martin and Sanz (2003) as well as Ramajo et al (2008). disappeared or new countries have been excluded.…”

supporting

confidence: 63%

“…It is derived from the neoclassical growth theory and is based on the idea that if poor countries tend to grow faster than rich ones, there is absolute β-convergence. More precisely, denoting y it as the real gross domestic product per capita in country i at year t, the linearization of the neoclassical growth model yields to the following absolute β-convergence specification, often called the Barro regression (Mankiw et al, 1992;Ramajo et al, 2008): (2) where ∆ y it is the annual rate of growth of GDPC. α and β are the parameters to be estimated with β=(1-e -θt )/t and θ is the rate of convergence to the steady state.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Regional Integration and Real Convergence: Evidence from MENA Countries

Péridy

Bagoulla²

2012

JEI

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This article analyses and explains the real convergence process in MENA countries over the past 50 years. It provides a threefold contribution. Firstly, given the recent increasing attention paid to the Euro-Mediterranean area, it focuses on the convergence of MENA countries towards the EU per capita income. Second, it provides an econometric modelling of the determinants of convergence. Finally, it is based on a wide set of convergence indicators applied to various measures of per capita income as well as the Human Development Index (HDI). Results show that despite a lack of s-convergence for the MENA region taken as a whole, the convergence hypothesis is accepted using the g and β-convergence tests, especially for Tunisia, Egypt, Turkey and Morocco. However, there is evidence of divergence for Jordan and Algeria. It is also shown that the convergence process strongly depends on education, R&D, transport and infrastructure as well as public investment. By contrast, there is no direct impact of the regional integration process with the EU, although the EIB loans positively contribute to the convergence process. Finally, trade specialization and firm agglomeration have been detrimental to convergence of MENA countries.

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“…Nevertheless, the empirical evidence has provided mixed, if not contradictory, results. While some authors do find evidence of a positive impact of structural funds on economic growth (e.g., Ramajo, Márquez, Hewings and Salinas, 2008), others find little (e.g., Esposti and Bussoletti, 2008) to no impact at all (e.g., Dall'erba and Le Gallo, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Ramajo, Márquez, Hewings and Salinas (2008) apply cross-sectional spatial econometric techniques to estimate the speed of convergence for a sample of 163 regions in the EU-12 over the period [1981][1982][1983][1984][1985][1986][1987][1988][1989][1990][1991][1992][1993][1994][1995][1996]. First of all, they find evidence in favour of the existence of two spatial convergence clubs among European regions, namely, the presence of two significantly different spatial clusters formed by regions belonging to Cohesion (Ireland, Greece, Portugal and Spain) and non-Cohesion countries.…”

Section: Empirical Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

Econometric Evaluation of EU Cohesion Policy: A Survey

Hagen

Mohl²

2016

Empirical Evidence on the Macroeconomic Effects of EU Cohesion Policy

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Die Dis cus si on Pape rs die nen einer mög lichst schnel len Ver brei tung von neue ren For schungs arbei ten des ZEW. Die Bei trä ge lie gen in allei ni ger Ver ant wor tung der Auto ren und stel len nicht not wen di ger wei se die Mei nung des ZEW dar.Dis cus si on Papers are inten ded to make results of ZEW research prompt ly avai la ble to other eco no mists in order to encou ra ge dis cus si on and sug gesti ons for revi si ons. The aut hors are sole ly respon si ble for the con tents which do not neces sa ri ly repre sent the opi ni on of the ZEW.Download this ZEW Discussion Paper from our ftp server:ftp://ftp.zew.de/pub/zew-docs/dp/dp09052.pdf Non-technical summaryMore than one third of the total EU budget is spent on so-called Cohesion Policy via the structural funds. Its main purpose is to reduce disparities among EU regions and to promote economic growth and convergence. Therefore, the convergence process of EU regions is a question of high political importance. The overall empirical evidence points to a small convergence effect of all or at least some European regions. However, whether or not this potential success results from EU Cohesion Policy remains an open question. The existing empirical evidence has provided mixed, if not contradictory, results. While some authors do find evidence of a positive impact of structural funds on economic growth, others find little to no impact at all. Against this background, this paper provides a fundamental review of the econometric evaluation of EU Cohesion Policy in order to shed light on the reasons for the diverging results. It has been shown that the econometric evaluation of EU Cohesion Policy is hampered by several econometric issues. Based on these issues we discuss potential solutions on how to cope with these problems and discuss the related literature.The most that can be concluded from empirical studies using country-level data is that Cohesion Policy seems to be only conditionally effective. Given a good quality institutional setup or decentralised governmental structures, Cohesion Policy has a positive impact on growth. However, using regional level data might be the preferable alternative because, first, EU Cohesion Policy focuses on the development and convergence of regions and, second, the robustness of the results is increased by the higher number of cross sections. The majority of the studies based on EU regions find at least a weak positive effect.One explanation for the weak results might be the fact that almost all studies are derived from a neoclassical growth model assuming that EU Cohesion Policy increases investments, and ultimately raising the economic growth rate. However, there is some empirical evidence that Cohesion Policy may only have a modest impact on investments. Moreover, we know very little about the labour market impact of EU Cohesion Policy. Hence, one task for future studies will be to investigate more thoroughly the channels through i which EU Cohesion Policy works.Another reason for the inconclusive empirical results m...

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Spatial heterogeneity and interregional spillovers in the European Union: Do cohesion policies encourage convergence across regions?

Cited by 198 publications

References 20 publications

EU Structural Funds and Regional Income Convergence A Sobering Experience

EU Structural Funds and Regional Income Convergence A Sobering Experience

Regional Integration and Real Convergence: Evidence from MENA Countries

Econometric Evaluation of EU Cohesion Policy: A Survey

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