The more the merrier? Migration and convergence among European regions

Lorenz Fischer and Michael Pfaffermayr

Regional Science and Urban Economics, 2018, vol. 72, issue C, 103-114

Abstract: A spatial system of equations for regional income growth and migration allows to identify the impact of migration on regional income convergence despite the dependence of migration rates on initial income per worker. Using a spatial systems estimator, we find a significant positive effect of migration on income convergence within the European Union on the NUTS 2 level. As migration is generally observed from low to high income regions, growth rates of income per worker tend to decrease in regions experiencing net immigration, while lagging regions experience higher speeds of income convergence due to net emigration. As a consequence, migration increases σ-convergence by about 0.45 percentage points.

Keywords: Conditional spatial β- and σ-convergence; Migration; European regions; Regional convergence; Beta- and sigma-convergence; Solow model JEL (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C31 O47 R11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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Working Paper: The more the merrier? Migration and Convergence among European Regions (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:regeco:v:72:y:2018:i:c:p:103-114

DOI: 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2017.04.007

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